Of Secrets and Stags
by whitewolf33
Summary: During the full moon, Lily follows James into the forest. She gets attacked by Remus, but is saved by James in his Animangus form. What will happen between Lily and James? LilyxJames SiriusxRemus AlicexFrank
1. The Introduction

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"Tomorrow night is the full moon," Sirius casually pointed out as they all piled onto Remus' bed. Remus was half-laying down, leaning reclined against the pillow Peter was sitting at the foot of the bed, his legs stretched over the bed to where his feet dangled. Sirius and James were beside Remus, both sitting sideways in the same manner, turned to where they could speak to Remus, Peter or each other.

"I have patrol duties…" James muttered as he slapped himself in the forehead.

"James! Where do you get off, acting all responsible?" Sirius exclaimed as he put his hands on his hips, acting like a mother scolding a four-year-old for eating dirt.

"I act responsible because Lily is the one who gives me my punishment, my dear, dear Padfoot. I'm, of course, going to show, but I just have to deal with the reprecussions later…" James said with a shrug.

"I'm glad you guys take the full moon as a field trip…" Remus muttered sarcastically with a sigh.

"I don't!" Peter exclaimed.

"Well, yeah. Your Animangus form isn't as cool as ours!" Sirius exclaimed jokingly. Everyone laughed, except Peter, whose glare was pointed downwards.

"Hey, hey. No need to take your anger out by glaring at the bed!" James said in a mock comforting tone.

"I'm… I'm going to bed," Peter said suddenly as he walked off to the other side of the room before going to sleep. James started to get up, but Remus stopped him.

"Leave him. He's been pouting a lot lately. I guess he's just not looking forward to the end of the year… He's taking it different then we are. James, you're at least pretending to straighten up. Sirius, you're living you last year as a student to the full extent. Me, I'm working as hard on my studies as I can. But Peter… Peter has no goals, nor no idea of what to do. All we can do is let Peter mope when he needs to, but help him when he needs it," Remus explained.

"Pure poetry," Sirius said, wiping away an imaginary tear. At this, James began snapping.

"James, why in bloody hell are you _snapping_?" Sirius asked, completely confused.

"It's what Muggles do after a poet recites his or her own original poems…" Remus explained before yawning.

"Remus, it's only 10 o' clock and you're tired!" Sirius exclaimed.

"… Of course…" Remus said slowly, hoping Sirius would realize why.

"Oh, that. Yeah…" Sirius said in an embarressed tone as he rubbed the back of his neck. James snickered.

"We really all ought to go to sleep early… Tomorrow's a big day, for all of us," Remus said, adding on the "for all of us" as an after thought.

"Yeah, you're right. However! Sirius and I completely rejected our Charms homework!" James said enthusiastically.

"Well, hurry up…" Remus muttered before yawning yet again and blinking his eyes a few times.

"You, get some sleep," Sirius said before ruffling Remus' hair and standing up. "C'mon, Prongs," Sirius said as he and James walked down to the Common Room.

'_That was a little more affectionate than usual…'_ James thought as he glanced back over at Sirius and back at Remus. _'Don't tell me those two… Have… Something going on…'_ James thought slowly, not sure if he could believe it or not. _'Well, I guess anything's possible. Those two would make a cute couple, I guess…' _James thought absent-mindedly.

His eyes 'casually' caught the sight of Lily Evans. Since about 5th year, he had been infatuated with her. And for some reason, no matter what he did, it never subsided. Even if she near-killed him, he still loved—LIKED her.

----

"Potter is staring at you again," Alice whispered to her best friend, Lily.

"Oh, god. Not again. Please tell me he's not going to ask me out…"

"He hasn't asked you out all year. I find that strange…" Alice said, trying to remember if he did or not.

"No, he has. He did right after he found out I'm Head Girl. You weren't around… I kind of yelled at him a bit and told him to shove off forever."

"Maybe he actually listened…?"

"I doubt it. I mean, seriously! Potter? Listen! Ha! He's probably plotting. It's only been a month… He's planning some magnificent ball or something weird like that where he'll sweep—TRY to sweep me off my feet!"

"Yeah, that MUST be it… Aren't you even going to give him a chance?"

"Why would I?"

"He… He might actually be really sweet. Look at Frank. He's really sweet, kind and is an amazing listener… But he has average grades (in everything except Defense), isn't a Quidditch star, and even seems to be a bit conceited and over-anxious all the time. I couldn't stand him until I got to know him, now I can't imagine any reason TO hate him…" Alice said dreamily.

"I'm glad you're happy, but James isn't my "type", you know?"

"What kind of person has types? Love doesn't have anything to do with "types"," Alice said with a scarily serious look on her face.

"Fine. Potter isn't the type of person I generally could stand even giving a chance," Lily said, mocking Alice by holding up her hand and using it like a puppet.

"Haha," Alice said as she rolled her eyes.

"There he goes again!" Alice whispered excitedly.

----

"So, what assignment was this? Prongs? PRONGS?" Sirius asked, yelling out James' nickname.

"Um… we have to write a 6 foot easy on defensive charms and which offensive charms they can be used for…" James muttered after thinking for a moment. He glanced over at Lily quickly before grabbing his parchment and his quill.

"So… like the Pyro-Defensive Spell?" Sirius asked before writing it down.

"Uh-huh… That one's just like the Hydro-Defensive Spell, only it's with fire, not water…" James muttered automatically.

"Ah, nearly forgot there were Pyro and Hydro… Umm… That weird combat one…?"

"That's the Physical Sheild, I think…" James muttered.

"No, Physical Attack Sheild!" Sirius said enthusiasitically, James' comment having jotted his mind.

"OH, yeah! That's it…" James muttered as Sirius continued to list the different defenses.

"How many spells do you reckon we'll need to take up 6 feet?" Sirius asked.

"Depends on how much description we give it. I could talk about the similiarities and differences between the Pyro and the Hydro defensive spells for about 4 feet," James said with a smirk.

"Is that a bet?" Sirius asked while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Sure. Why not? Um… about a Galleon?"

"You're about to lose a Galleon, mate," Sirius said with a smirk.

"Haha, it's just going too look like that. When, in reality, you'll only be IMAGINING that due to the loss of oart of your pocket money," James said with a smirk.

"Okay, after homework, then," Sirius said with a smirk. Both were equally serious about the debt, yet both knew that the other wouldn't accept it. Flaunting the money was just a weird part of it to make it seem like traditional gambling.

"Let's see… The Furry Animal Sheild?" Sirius, who had somewhat of a writer's block, asked.

"Who's going to need defense from a furry animal?"

"Um… Well, if someone was covered in catnip in the middle of a cat pound full of rabid cats, someone could…"

"Um, let's put THAT idea aside," James said, making hand gestures to refer to moving something to the side.

"Um… I'm completely at a loss, James. Check out the other Gryffindors in our year that are in here and see if we can tell anything by what they're saying," Sirius said with a shrug.

"That only worked once, Padfoot, and that was because Remus was discussing it with Lily," James said as he glanced around the room. His eyes, however, locked on Lily as she used her hand like a puppet.

"See anything?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing new…" James muttered as he watched Lily mock Alice.

"I see. So, how about we… Prongs? Prongs? Prooooooooongs? PRONGS!" Sirius yelled, finally having succeeded in getting his attention.

"Yes, Padfoot?"

"Stop staring at your dream girl and help me out with this!" Sirius said.

"Fine…"

"Good god, it's already 11!"Alice cried out from across the room.

"Sissies. 11 at night isn't that late. Now, 2 in the morning however…" Sirius said as he flipped through the textbook.

"Let's hurry and get this done. We need to be in bed as early as possible…" James said.

"I guess you're right. The challenge shall have to hold on until tomorrow afternoon…" Sirius said sadly.

"It's alright, Padfoot. That Galleon will be mine by tomorrow night," James fake-comforted his friend.

"I'll keep that in mind when I take the Galleon back to the Dormitory in MY pocket," Sirius said with a smirk.

"You guys need new material. You said that the last time you made a bet," Alice said from behind Sirius as she walked towards the Girl's Dormitories.

"That… chick… is… creepy…" Sirius said, surprised that Alice snuck up on him.

"Maybe she fancies you…" James muttered as he jotted down a note.

"No, she's perfectly happy with her boyfriend. Besides, I have someone I like already…"

"Is this the same person from the beginning of the year?" James asked as he looked up.

"Well, yeah…"

"Go for it! Who's going to be stupid enough to turn you down? Half the girls like you!"

"Padfoot… what if… Just what if… The person I like… Wasn't… Nevermind," Sirius said.

"You can tell me, Padfoot," James said.

"Maybe later. Now, let's finish up and I might tell you later…" Sirius said as he turned back to the book.

James nodded in confirmation, knowing he shouldn't push it. He sighed as he continued the work.

**A/N: Okay, this chapter was mainly to give the setting and explain everyone's relationships with one another… This chapter doesn't have much to do with the plot, except introducing feelings and such. And obviously it lets you know what year they are in and all that jazz. Okay, please review! Continue to read, because it gets much, much more interesting :)**


	2. That Time Of The Month

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"Lily, hurry up! We've got patrol duties tonight!" James called up the stairs. Sirius, Remus, and Peter had already left for the forest, and he had to hurry.

"I'll be down in a minute, Potter! Leave me alone for just ONE more minute!" Lily yelled down the stairs, tired of James' impatience.

And so, James then bolted out of the Common Room. "Careful, or I'll leave without you!" he called back up before closing the entrance shut.

"You will do no such thing!" Lily yelled back down. "He's just saying this to get me to hurry up…"

James ran through the hallways, sneaking through the crowds of students trying to make it back to their Common Rooms before curfew. He looked around, making sure that no one was watching him.

James smirked as he moved a statue aside that, despite how heavy it looked, was actually quite light. It was a secret tunnel down to the Forbidden Forest that only Remus and Dumbledore were supposed to know about. However, once James, Sirius and Peter found out that Remus was a werewolf and they could transform into their Animangus forms, Remus told them about the tunnel. As per Remus' request, they also did not include the entrance on the Marauder's Map.

"_There might be someone else who gets a look at the Marauder's Map… They may come into contact with werewolves, and them knowing a secret entrance to the Forbidden Forest would be putting their lives in danger," Remus said, stopping James from putting the tunnel on the map._

"_But…" James began._

"_Keep it off. It pains me to say this, but… Remus is right," Sirius said, serious at the moment._

"_Right,' James muttered before erasing it off the map, using the pencils that Remus had supplied them._

He opened the trapdoor and crawled inside before shutting the trapdoor. The statue snapped back into place after the trapdoor was closed, and James climbed down after being sure that it had been set into place.

He worked his way down the ladder before he was in the dark, damp tunnel. He continued down the tunnel by feeling his way along the right wall, knowing that otherwise, he'd get turned around. The tunnel had been so enchanted that few people could get out of it without ending up back where they started or in Dumbledore's office. Also, in the tunnel, magic didn't work. This way, no one could use a spell for light to find his or her way down the tunnel.

"Finally…" he muttered as he climbed out of the dark tunnel. He looked up at the sky, hoping it wasn't time for Remus to transform just yet. "Not quite, but I'd better—" he began before looking in shock at the front of the forest.

"Moony! Moony! Get a hold of yourself! Not quite yet!" Sirius was bellowing.

"I…I'm TRYING!" Remus bellowed back. Peter was currently leaned against a tree, cowering in fear at the transforming lycanthrope.

"Padfoot! Get Moony father back into the forest! We're not going to make it to the Shrieking Shack if we just stand here!" James called out as he ran towards them.

"I-I-I don't th-think we're gonna make it to the Sh-Shrieking Sh-Shack at all…" Remus muttered.

"Then hurry and get him farther into the forest!" James called out as he ran, closing in on them more and more…

----

"Where the bloody hell is he?" Lily demanded of a First Year.

"W-W-Where is who?" he asked, already scared of Lily, as she was bigger than him and obviously really, really mad at a certain "him". She was now towering over him in a completely threatening, malicious way. She was glaring at him, expecting him to know the exact location of James… And if he didn't know or remember, she would force him to through fear.

"James Potter. He's the Head Boy," she said in an even more impatient tone.

"U-Um was he the one calling you from down here?" he asked, still unsure.

"Yes. Did you see where he went?"

"Is-Isn't that him, out t-t-there?" the little boy asked as he pointed out the window. James was running towards the Forbidden Forest, where Lily could also see Sirius and Peter.

"Yes, that's him. And now, he's dead," Lily muttered menacingly. She nodded at the boy before leaving the Common Room and slamming it shut.

"Here. You need this more than I do," Alice said as she gave the boy a piece of chocolate.

"T-Thanks… I feel like I just faced a Dementor and was nearly kissed…" the boy muttered, half-crying.

"Ah, don't we all when she's mad?" Alice asked with a laugh. "Now, you go to bed. You need your rest after something as terrifying as that," Alice said, completely serious.

"Yes ma'am," the boy said politely before wearily going up the stairs.

"So young…" Alice said as she turned the page in her book and leaned closer to Frank.

----

When James finally got to Sirius, Remus, and Peter, Remus had already almost lost full control. "We need to go ahead and trasnform, Padfoot," James said as he stood beside Sirius.

"Right," Sirius said with a nod. They were halfway into the forest, despite the fact that Remus was half-transformed the entire time. James and Sirius transformed, keeping Remus from running out of the forest. This was always the emergency plan in case that Remus was transforming early. The rule was to keep him from getting ot the other students.

It had worked up until now. Sirius' sensitive dog ears picked up the sounds of yelling. "POTTER! YOU ARE NOT BLOWING OFF YOUR PATROLING DUTIES TO RUN AROUND IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST!" came the voice of none other than Lily Evans.

All James could think of was that he had to keep Remus away from Lily to both protect Remus' secret and to keep her safe.

----

Lily ran into the forest, unknowing of the danger that she was in by calling James' name. Remus, at the moment a werewolf with superior hearing abilities, tore away from Sirius and James. Peter was hiding somewhere in his mouse form, as usual.

Remus dodged through the trees to get to the girl who was yelling. James galloped, trying frantically to be the one to see where she was first in order to protect her and possibly hide her from the werewolf.

"JAMES POTTER! GET OUT HERE NOW!" she yelled, her screams for him reverberating through the trees.

'_Coming, my dearest Lilykins,'_ James thought sarcastically as he jumped over a bush, towards the path of her voice.

And there she was. Standing there, yelling for him. "JAMES!" she called one last time before she noticed the presence of the stag and the werewolf. She took an involuntary step backwards towards the stag. She screamed as the wereolf lunged towards her.

'_Sorry, Moony,'_ James apologized mentally as he stepped between Lily and the werewolf.

The werewolf snarled at him before lunging at the stag. The stag managed to dodge most of the attacks while staying in front of Lily, but his main goal was to stay in between the werewolf and the redhead—no matter what.

----

'_It… It's protecting me from the werewolf… But… But why? Why would a stag, a wild animal, put itself into danger to save me…? It makes no sense! Stags would usually run away from danger, from things like werewolves… So… Why…? Maybe… Maybe it's not really a stag… And where the hell is James? Running off to fight werewolves? What's WRONG with him? Damn him! If I live through this, I swear I'll fustigate him to a bloody pulp!'_ Lily thought as she watched in amazement as the stag fought the werewolf.

'_Why the bloody hell doesn't she whip out her wand and give me a hand!'_ James thought mentally in anger as he took another hit from the werewolf. It was a deep hit, and the cut had managed to hit his chest area, though it was far enough from the heart and the neck not to make a difference in that manner.

'_I've… I've got to do something! I can't just stand here… I just can't stand here like a coward!'_ Lily screamed inwardly. She grasped her wand and pointed it at the werewolf, still not sure which spell to use.

"Incendio!" She cried out randomly, hoping that the fire spell would help. The werewolf burst into flames and retreated to the dark confines of the forest.

Lily, who had used up most of her energy, fainted as the werewolf ran away. The darkness closed in on her as the stag leaned over her collapsed body. The stag's eyes shown brightly with worry and concern as Lily collapsed and passed out. _'Those… Those eyes…'_ Lily thought before she gave into the darkness.

**A/N: A cliff-hangerish ending. XP The enxt chapter will show the aftermath of this, of course. Not much else to say here… Review, please:D They keep me going faster. Each review is like poking me in the side to update. )**


	3. Waking Up From A Dream

**Of Secrets and Stags**

Lily Evans always woke up slowly. She'd start by moving her hand ever so slightly and rubbing her eyes. She would then shift her legs in a sort of half-rolled over fashion. She would then yawn and finally, after all of this, open her eyes.

And that's why she screamed and nearly fell over when the first thing she saw was Alice's eyes and nose barely a half-inch away from her face.

"Alice! Don't do that again!" she shrieked as she instinctively pulled her covers, well, sheets, up to her ears.

"Sorry! I was just surprised that you woke up… I wanted to make sure you were okay… You were out for three days, for god's sake!" Alice said in a very enormously relieved tone. "These guys have also stayed by your bedside," Alice said as she jerked her thumb in James, Sirius, Peter, and Frank's directions.

"How sweet. How did I get…" Lily started before looking down at her cover. "No… No, that must have been a dream… How did I get knocked out like that?" Lily asked.

"Well, you were running down the stairs about to murder James when you tripped and fell down a flight of stairs. You hit your head on the wall, which knocked you unconscious. However, you just happened to be on a moving staircase, and you fell further down. James ran threw himself on the ground, allowing you to land on him. He fainted as well, but he was out for only a day," Sirius said matter-of-factly, as that story had been rehearsed to explain James' fainting as well as make him look just slightly heroic as well.

Lily, however, glared at James. "You did that just so I'd be on top of you, you pervert."

James raised his hands to be level with his head and waved his hands, signaling that that wasn't it at all.

"So, anyways, what was that dream you were talking about?" Alice asked curiously. For some weird reason, Alice loved hearing about dreams, even if they were completely dull or something weird.

"Well… I was… chasing James into the Forbidden Forest… It was a full moon and a werewolf attacked me… Suddenly, James seemed to disappear and the stag started protecting me… I think I heard a lot of barking and squeaks… At first, I couldn't cast spells…I was too mortified… And then… And then the eyes that the stag had… I dunno. They just looked familiar… and non-animal… They looked… human. They were these beautiful, chocolate eyes that… I sound like I'm in love with a silly _stag_… Anyways, what are you guys doing here, anyways?" Lily asked, addressing James, Peter and Sirius.

"Well, we _were_ the ones who found you. We were just worried," Sirius said automatically. James nodded once with a smirk in affirmative, while Peter nodded about five times in a more scared manner.

Lily shook her head and sighed. "Whatever," she muttered.

"Ms. Evans! You're awake! All of you, leave, I have to do a full examination of her body for bruises or scrapes," Madam Pomfrey said as she waved the others.

"Aw... I want to stay, Poppy!" James protested while sending a pleading look back at Madam Pomfrey.

"YOU PERVERT! IF IT WASN'T FOR POP—MADAM POMFREY BEING HERE, I'D KNOCK YOU OUT WITH MY BEDSIDE TABLE!" Lily yelled back.

"… Mr. Potter, I suggest you leave," Madam Pomfrey said as she shoved James out of the door.

"Oh! Lily! After this whole hospital thing, want to go to Hogsmeade?"

"… We don't have a Hogsmeade trip for another month, and NO!" Lily yelled back at him.

"Aha! We'll have to make our own outing, then, won't we?" James asked while wiggling his eyebrows.

"In front of a staff member, no less…" Madam Pomfrey noted to herself as she pushed James out of the room. "Out you go!" she yelled before slamming the door shut.

"Jeez, some people are just being RUDE!" James yelled back through the door at Madam Pomfrey.

"Oh, well. Can't be helped. See ya later, Poppy!" Sirius called back at the nurse.

"C'mon, Frank. Let's go back to the Common Room before dinner!" Alice said brightly as she and her boyfriend walked back in the direction of the Common Room.

"Too bad Moony couldn't come… He'd be relieved to know that Evans thinks that it was all a dream…" James said with a sigh as they walked in the direction of the Great Hall for dinner, where they would meet up with Remus once again.

"Well, that's what happens when you have someone who decides that Lily wouldn't wake up in the short period of thirty minutes and would rather stay in the Library and research," Sirius said matter-of-factly.

"I think that he's trying to find something to research to fill the gap of being able to research about Animanguses…" James said with a laugh.

"That'd make sense, knowing our Moony," Peter said quietly in agreement.

"He's not ours. He's free to go anytime he wants," James said with a shrug.

"He'd better not. I'd follow him if he did. He's stuck with me… I mean, us," Sirius said, more serious than he had ever been in his life.

James smirked and nodded. _So, Sirius does fancy Remus… I think I shall… Have to do a bit of research on this Moony, but ever so subtly and casually…_ James thought, trying to suppress his "evil smirk".

James had four smirks: His sexy, irresistible smirk that only Lily was unaffected by, his victory smirk, his sort of half-way smile smirk, and his "evil smirk", which let his friends know when he was plotting against someone or had a prank in mind.

---

"Moony, we have sensational news," Sirius said happily as they arrived back in the Common Room after dinner. Trying to tell a secret at dinner, or even implying that you had a secret around others, especially about something as classified as Remus' transformations was obviously just plain stupid and a most definate "no-no".

"Is it news that can be heard in here, or do we have to go to the Dormitory?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow. Normally, "sensational news" meant a prank or a new girlfriend. However, the latter hadn't happened lately for either Sirius or James, for somewhat obvious reasons, and never to Peter.

"Dormitory. It involves a certain person's "time of the month"," James said with a smirk.

"Ooooh," Remus said with an interested tone before they climbed upstairs.

Once they arrived to the correct Dormitory, Remus looked around and asked in his usual, no-nonense tone, "What's up with my transformations?"

"Well… Lily thinks that it was all a dream. As time goes on, I truly believe that she'll forget it," Sirius said happily.

"Though…there's one thing that bothers me… Do I have "amazing" eyes?" James asked, pointing to his eyes.

Sirius tilted his chin up, knowing exactly why he asked, while Remus just looked on, completely and utterly confused. "They… are the color that Lily described… Chocolate brown… They do look like the ones in your other form, and I guess… I guess you'd better not allow her to stare "deep into your eyes"," Sirius said with a nod.

"What the bloody hell…?" Remus asked, confused.

"Well, Lily saw the stag's eyes, and, like the underlying romantic soul I know she has, she fell in love with them, even though they're just… brown," James said with a shrug.

"You think she has an underlying romantic soul?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Who else but a romantic soul can fall in love with something, even an animal, based on something as insignificant as eyes?" Sirius asked with a laugh in James' defense.

"Right…" Remus said while shaking his head slowly, though he wore a small smirk of his own.

----

"Earth to Lily…?" Alice asked, waving her hand in front of Lily's face as the two girls sat on Lily's bed. They had been talking, but Lily kept falling in and out of the conversation as she got herself lost in thought.

"Huh? Oh, sorry… I zoned out while you were talking…" Lily admitted before biting her bottom lip.

"What's up? I haven't seen something bother you this much since that last unworthy wanker dumped you…" Alice asked.

"Well… This is going to sound really stupid…But… That "dream" felt… Too real… And the eyes that the stag had… They looked familiar…" Lily admitted, slowly spilling her guts to her best friend, knowing that she'd probably be able to give reasons and help to the problems Lily had. She was always there for things like that.

"Hmm… Maybe… Just maybe… It wasn't a dream. Did you feel any pain during this so-called "dream"?" Alice asked.

"No… The stag protected me…" she admitted with a laugh. "As silly as that sounds, the stag protected me from any harm… Like it knew the werewolf's attack could hurt me…" Lily mused.

"How much detail was there in the "dream"? Is it hazy, or are the details crystal-clear?" Alice asked, pressing the matter and getting more and more into it.

"Well… No, it was crystal-clear… But it was weird…" Lily admitted.

"I have no clue…" Alice began, but Lily cut her off.

"Wait! That boy!" Lily exclaimed.

"That… boy…? Oh! Him! The first year! That's right… he pointed to James going into the…" Alice looked shocked and glanced out the window. "I… remember… I was too worried to think about… that boy…" Alice said quietly to herself.

"So… what the bloody hell does this mean?" Lily asked, confused.

"I have no clue. But somehow, that werewolf and the stag are related to James, Peter, and Sirius…" Alice said quietly.

"What the hell does this mean?" Lily asked again, this time more desperately as she hid her face in her hands.

Alice put her hand on Lily's back in comfort. "Hey, at least… At least the stag protected you…" Alice said as a form of consoling.

"True…" Lily muttered.

**A/N: Sorry it took so long. Haha. It's moving a bit fast… But yeah. I don't know how much longer this story is going to last. After all, Lily is smart, and I'm sure Alice isn't a dummy, either. So they'll figure it out pretty quickly. And the story will only last at the most, three chapters after she finds out. Also, I'm doing a Sirius/Remus chapter. I have to after laying on the possible relationship this thick. Or should I keep it completely Lily/James centered and just keep it as a "hey, it could happen" thing in the background? Anyways, review, please.**

**P.S. Oh, also, I've already got a good idea about the next chapter. SO, it shouldn't be TOO long before I get it out. I just had some… inspiration. –shifty look-**

**P.P.S. Note - I would have had this chapter out MUCH sooner if the document manager didn't decide to hate me. **


	4. Investigations and Conclusions

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"Okay… now, all we need to do is wait for him to come through the Common Room…" Lily muttered to Alice as they waited on the couch.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Alice asked.

"What's that?"

"You. Leave," Alice said while pointing up the stairs to the Girl's Dormitory.

"…Why?" Lily asked, completely and utterly confused.

"To put it blandly, you scare him," Alice said in an all-to pleasant tone.

"Oh… I guess I came on somewhat strongly…" Lily muttered embarrassedly.

"Don't worry. I'll put in a good word for you to help make up for it, okay?" Alice said.

"Fine. I'll… go now," Lily said with a laugh as she walked up the stairs.

"Bye, Lilz!" Alice called up the stairs as she pretended to read her History of Magic book.

It wasn't long until the young first-year walked in the Common Room. For future reference, Alice noted that he had blonde hair, blue eyes and a thin frame.

'_What a shame. He will be cute when he gets older, but… he's far too shy…'_ she thought to herself about the young first year. She had a habit of making such notes and predictions as well, even if the person was a complete stranger.

"Hey! You're the first year from the other night!" Alice greeted.

"U-uh hello, ma'am."

"You can call me Alice. What is your name, by the way?"

"Gilderoy... Gilderoy Lockhart..." he muttered shyly.

"Hey! No need to be so shy! C'mon, chin up!" she said happily.

He smiled and nodded energetically. "Is there something you need, Alice?"

"Well... I just needed to ask a few questions," she replied with a smile.

"About what?" he asked curiously.

"Well, when you pointed to the Head Boy for my red-headed friend, how many other boys were there with him?"

"Um... two..."

"What did they look like?"

"One had black hair, and the other had sandy-blond hair…" he said after thinking for a moment.

_Sirius and Peter, then…_"Anything strange? At all?"

"Well... Not really… I didn't see anything besides those two with the other guy…" he said after thinking for a moment.

"Thank you! That'll be all. If you need help with anything during your first year, look Lily or me up. Don't worry; she's really sweet, if you catch her in a good mood and not around Potter. You'll do fine--just remember, don't be shy and be as straight-forward as possible!" Alice said with a wink before walking off.

"... I think I'm in love..." Gilderoy muttered to himself as he watched her retreating figure.

----

"So… what we have here is a list of the people and the animals involved," Alice said before sliding the list over to Lily.

"James Potter… Sirius Black… Peter Pettigrew… stag… werewolf…" Lily muttered. "This doesn't give us much… How is the stag related to the werewolf? And what were Potter, Pettigrew, and Black doing there?" Lily asked aloud.

"I'm not sure… But isn't it possible that they were trying to control the werewolf?"

"Hey… Remus isn't on this list…" Lily muttered after rereading the list.

"Well, we have no proof that he was there," Alice said with a shrug.

"… What color… are his eyes?" Lily asked after thinking for a moment.

"I'll get back to you on that after I've stared at them for a little while," Alice said sarcastically.

"Right. Sorry. You've only done that with Frank," Lily said before smirking and suppressing giggles.

"Haha. So, what are we going to do? Ask Remus, 'Hey, if you don't mind, can we stare deeply into your eyes so Lily here can compare your eye color to that of a stag that your friends say came out of a dream?'" Alice asked even more sarcastically than before.

"You know, sarcasm is NOT becoming on you," Lily said after tilting her head to the side.

"I know. I can't help it. We're in a desperate situation here!" Alice said before throwing her arms up.

"Exaggeration doesn't really work, either. But it's better than sarcasm. Can't you just stick with optimism?" Lily asked.

"No. I need to try on new things," Alice said with a laugh.

"Right," Lily said while laughing, getting even louder than Alice was.

"Anyways, back to the topic. Do we know where Remus was at the time? I mean, it is possible for him to be either the werewolf or the stag…" Alice said after thinking for a moment.

"Remus can't be the werewolf!" Lily yelled aghast.

"Well… that's probably true. I mean, look at him. He's… too nice to be the werewolf. If anyone's the wild animal, that Black is," Alice said, muttering the last sentence.

"I beg to differ. Potter is the animal," Lily said with an icy tone.

"Haha. You'd think so. But… I'm sure there's a reason he was chosen for Head Boy, Lily," Alice said in James' defense.

Lily rolled her eyes before muttering, "Yes. Dumbledore is getting senile."

"That may be true, but… I dunno. Something just doesn't feel… the same as it was before with him, you know?" Alice asked.

"No. No, I do not know. He's always been an arrogant prick, and he'll always be an arrogant prick," Lily said stubbornly.

"An arrogant prick, am I?" James asked as he walked down the Boy's Dormitory stairs.

"We weren't talking to _you_," Lily said with a glare of intense loathing.

"But, aside from that, how much did you hear?" Alice asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Haha. I heard enough. I heard Lily call me a wild animal," and here he wiggled his eyebrows, "you talk about how much better I've gotten, and Lilykins call me an arrogant prick. You guys were discussing me!" James exclaimed happily.

'_He's so dense…'_ Lily thought as she yelled, "Yeah! That's right! She is trying to change the intensity of my hatred for you!" Lily called up the stairs.

----

'_Ow. That hurt… What to say back?'_ James thought to himself. "It's not that hard to get along with me, Lily. In fact, many of my ex-girlfriends will testify I am a much different person… Once you get to know me," James added with a wink.

"Over my dead arse!" Lily called back up the stairs.

"Language, my dear Lilykins," James said, holding back the statement, 'Or else I'll have to administer a spanking'.

See? He had changed, even if JUST a little bit.

"Like I'll ever listen to you," Lily spat out.

James shook his head and walked back upstairs, where everyone was laying on their own beds. Peter had fallen asleep, Remus was reading, and Sirius was hanging upside-down off of his bed, seemingly utterly bored.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, still in his upside-down position.

"I just heard my name. They were talking about me… or us," James added before flopping down on his bed once again to study for an upcoming Herbology assignment.

"Why don't you stop acting like a Moony and play Quidditch with me?" Sirius asked before sitting upright.

"I can't… I'm completely unprepared…"

"You've turned into a worried nerd," Sirius said with a sigh.

"I assure you, the change, no matter how small, is most likely for the best," James said with a laugh.

"Uh-huh. If you change into a Moony, I don't have a Prongs to hang out with!" Sirius protested.

"Peter can upgrade," James said with a shrug.

"Him? Yeah, right. He's like Moony—stuck how he is," Sirius said with a laugh.

"… Do you have to keep making references to me, Padfoot?" Remus asked.

"You just keep coming up, Moony," Sirius said with a shrug.

"I see…" Remus muttered as he flipped the page.

'_Well, Moony has been coming up a lot lately…'_ James thought with an inward smirk.

----

"So, what's the conclusion?" Alice said as she folded her arms together and leaned forward towards Lily.

"… Remus is an unregistered Animangus. James, Sirius, and Peter were trying to control the werewolf, which they had noticed nearly escape the Forbidden Forest. Remus was the only one who could have transformed, and he saved my life," Lily said, giving her "obvious" conclusion to Alice.

After all, there was no way someone in their school could possibly be a werewolf, right?

**A/N: Haha. They still don't really have much of a clue. The Sirius/Remus chapter is coming up, along with a few hostile/unsure feelings between the Marauders. It shall not involve Lily, Alice, or Frank in any shape or form. Okay, maybe a little. But that'll be… yeah.**

**Sorry, but this is going to be the last update before I go on a five day church trip. Thanks for reading, R&R please!**


	5. Revelations

**Of Secrets and Stags**

Sirius had been acting strangely lately. There were many, many indications of his increasing insanity.

For instance, in Transfiguration, he was actually paying attention.

"Mr. Black, what does this spell require before the actual incantation is said?"

"You have to make sure that it is asleep, otherwise the tiger would go crazy," Sirius had said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Another weird thing was that he was spending as much time as possible in the Boy's Dormitory and was going to sleep more. He would leave in the middle of dinner, and by the time the other Marauders (and Frank) got there, he would have already passed out.

He also read as much as possible and actually did his homework, but refused help from Remus. He would agree to help from James or Peter, but blatantly refused Remus' help.

This went on for about a few days. And then, he started going out of it. People could swear they saw his hand twitch or see him glance from side to side. James, Peter, and Remus seriously thought that he would be put into St. Mungo's Ward for the Legitimately Insane.

"Sirius has been acting strangely lately," Remus said to Peter and James just after Sirius had gone up to bed.

"I noticed…" Peter muttered.

"One of us needs to talk to him," James said.

"Well, which one of us, then, James?" Remus asked after leaning over.

"Not me!" Peter cried out.

"Baby. I'll do it," James volunteered.

"Good. You know him best," Remus said with a nod.

"Yeah, yeah…" James muttered.

So, the next day, Remus and Peter suddenly excused themselves for a quick tutoring session, leaving Sirius and James alone and walking to the Common Room after dinner.

"Sirius?" James asked, without getting a response at all from him.

"Earth to Sirius?" James asked, before waving his hand in front of his friend's face.

Sirius jumped up, startled. His expression softened before he asked, "Yeah…?"

"Sirius... has something... been bothering you lately, or is it just my...?"

"No! I… I… I think I'm a... a pouf!"

"No!" James' eyes shot wide-open in mock surprise.

"What the bloody hell? You _knew_?"

"Of course I knew. It was obvious to everyone except you and him."

"So... what... what d'ya think?"

"Go for it. I can tell he likes you. He won't reject you... And if he does, keep pushing."

"This makes no sense."

"Love never does. I fell in love with Lily with no real reason, right? So... Why hold back, if it's real, real love?"

"... I have something to attend to..." Sirius said, excusing himself before running off in the direction of the Common Room.

"About bloody time..." James muttered with a smirk as he watched his friend run off.

----

"Remus!" Sirius called out as he ran into the Boy's Dormitory, out of breath after having run to the Library, back to the Common Room and up the stairs.

"Yes, Sirius…?" Remus asked, confused.

"I… Oh, bloody hell. I love you!" Sirius cried out in his confusion. Remus' eyes popped open and his jaw fell down about a fourth of an inch.

"I… I know you… probably don't…" Sirius began, but stopped abruptly when he noticed Remus get up and walk over to him.

"Shut up. I love you, too, _mon cur_ (1)," Remus said with a small smile.

Sirius' face broke out into a huge smile and they awkwardly stared at each other for a moment.

"I've never said that and meant it…" Sirius muttered it.

"Hell, I've never said it…" Remus muttered with a cough.

Sirius stared blankly at him before he lunged at Remus.

At that moment, James and Peter chose to walk in.

"Umm…" Peter said, staring at the two.

"Take it to the showers," James said embarrassedly and pointed at the bathroom.

"…Right…" Remus and Sirius muttered.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Peter asked James after they left.

"I'll tell you when you're old enough," James joked before rolling his eyes.

"Haha," Peter muttered before he crawled into bed.

_1. Mon cur means my dear mutt. I got it from some random fan fiction on this site... Shoutout to whichever fan fiction I got that from... But I forgot which one it was. _

**A/N: Bwahaha. I'm back and uploading this chapter. I was annoyed when, almost as soon as I got back home, my dad made me go to his girlfriend's place. I'll update ASAP for the er, wait on this chapter. xP**


	6. A Double Scandal

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"Lily, the fox stalks the chickens," Alice whispered to Lily in the middle of working on a potion during their Double Potions.

"What?" Lily hissed as she added the powdered Mandrake Root.

"… The Marauders will replace me with Peter soon?" Alice muttered after shrugging.

"Oh. We need a signal so that I can tell it's actually you and not him, by the way," Lily said serenely as she stirred the potion twice counterclockwise and three times clockwise.

"How about… When I come up to you, I'll pull my ear. When you come up to me, you'll pull your ear and I'll nod twice," Alice offered.

"Good idea. And no fighting whatsoever when they try getting a hold of you. You just might end up fighting, or scaring, them off," Lily said with a wink. Though few people knew this, Alice was at the Marauders' level of spell casting and fighting. She could most definitely hold her own when it came to getting into a duel with any of them, even the "master" of DADA, James Potter. However, she hadn't ever had to fight any of them, so their DADA teacher, Lily, Alice, and Dumbledore where the only ones that knew it. Everyone else thought that Alice was somewhere between decent and just above average.

"So, that's it, then," Lily said with a small, firm nod.

----

"The potion is completed, and I have Alice's hair added," Remus said with a serious look on his face as the boys gathered around him on his bed.

"Right," James and Sirius said firmly.

"We have already decided when we're going to ambush and make the switch," Remus continued.

"Right," came James and Sirius once again.

"We attack tomorrow, after Alice leaves early from dinner to turn in her Library book," Remus added.

"Right," James and Sirius repeated.

"So, that's it, then," Remus said with a proud smirk.

----

Alice sat beside Lily, who was indulged in a book, on the Common Room couch. She pulled her ear quickly before sighing and saying, "Come on, we should get going to dinner."

"You still going to the Library?" Lily asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, unlike Ms. Charm-Genius, I'm stuck studying our last lesson before the one next week," Alice said with a mock-glare.

Lily laughed and shook her head. "I could tutor you, you know," Lily said with a laugh.

"No, thanks. You don't accept my offers of tutoring you in DADA, so I won't accept yours. Besides, we're both too proud to allow anyone, even our best friends, to tutor us."

Lily laughed and replied, "Too true, sadly."

"Okay, let's go!" Alice yelled, a little too loudly for comfort in the Common Room.

"… Right…" Lily said, a little embarresed at everyone's eyes being on her.

----

Dinner went by a little too quickly for Remus and Peter, but not quickly enough for James and Sirius. They were actually exited about having to capture and knock Alice out, as strange as that sounded. Peter and Remus, however, were dreading it. Remus would soon find out just how much they knew, and if they knew anything about his lycanthropy at all. Peter had to pretend to be a girl, period.

They waited behind the wall that led to the Library. "Her arms are full of books… We don't have to worry about her using her wand. Easy job, in and out," Sirius whispered to James.

"You make it sound like we're going to murder her…" James muttered with a laugh.

"Let's go!" Sirius whispered when Alice was just ten feet away from the spot they were standing at.

"Potter, Black!" Alice cried out in mock-surprise. In fact, she had been expecting them to come at any time, so she was always on guard.

"Sorry," James whispered before stunning her.

"Remus, mission accomplished," Sirius told the mirror he was holding.

"Good. Peter will take the potion in thirty minutes' time. That way Lily will believe that it's Alice, and not an imposter," Remus said with a nod.

"Wow, you think about everything, huh, Moony?" Sirius asked with a small smirk.

"Well, that's… Anyways, I've uh, got to check on this… thing," Remus said, completely flustered before putting the mirror up.

Sirius sighed and shook his head. "Still not used to compliments, eh, Moony?"

James chuckled to himself as he levitated Alice's body and hid her in the small closet that he and Sirius had decided upon. Sirius casted the charm to hide the door, which probably didn't matter, since the closet was (conveniently) unused.

"Alright, now let's go to the Common Room and enjoy the show," James said with a smirk, motioning Sirius to come along.

----

"Alright, _Alice,_ just go in there and start talking to Lily about the next plan of action. Ask her what she thinks that "we" should do next and ask her to review the information with you to help come up with the next best plan of attack," Remus said seriously. "Alice" nodded and walked over to her friend, immediately plopping herself down.

"Hey, Lily!" she said excitedly, causing Lily to immediately look up from her book.

"Hey, Alice. You're in a good mood. How did Mission Return go?" Lily asked, pretending that nothing was strange or weird about her friend. However, once she plopped down, she immediately noticed a few things were wrong. 1) She was too energetic after studying. 2) She only took 30 minutes to study, when it normally took her an hour and thirty minutes to study. 3) She didn't say anything about actually studying. 4) She didn't use the signal.

"Oh, fine. The Librarian kept glaring at me, though. I think getting that stain on the book has her mad still…" Alice muttered with a chuckle.

5) Peter was the one who got the stain on the book.

Lily laughed along with her, hoping Peter wouldn't notice the mistake "she" made. "Oh, and speaking of missions, what's the next plan against the Marauders? We still need to confirm our theory…" Alice muttered thoughtfully.

"Not sure… We ought to go over the information we have so far, though," Lily said with a nod.

"Right!" Alice said, a little too enthusiastically. _'He's laying it on thick…'_ Lily thought in annoyance.

Lily pulled out a piece of paper that she and Alice referred to as the false information. "Okay… So far this is what we have… James saw the werewolf from the Common Room and rushed to force him back into the Forest. The other Marauders weren't involved in any way," Lily said with a nod. "The stag was something James controlled, like a puppet or something."

"Hmm… I guess we can see how good James is at that kind of stuff, but otherwise, I have no clue how to work with that anymore. Maybe we should just put this all behind us…" Alice muttered.

Lily looked over the note and sighed. "You know what? You're right. This… This is irrelevant to the important things coming up. I mean, we've got N.E.W.T.S. this year, and we're not nearly prepared!" Lily exclaimed.

Alice nodded. "It's getting late… We ought to go to bed," she finished abruptly, having noticed that her time was running short.

Lily yawned and nodded. "Good night…" she muttered before making her way up the stairs. She smirked devilishly before turning back to Alice, who hadn't followed, and asked, "You coming?"

Alice paused and stammered. "U-u-uh, no! I'm… saying goodnight to Frank!" she exclaimed.

"Don't be there all night, or people will start "rumors" about it…" Lily called back down with a slight wave of the hand and continued up the stairs.

Peter sighed and raced out of the Common Room, when he was sure that Lily wasn't looking.

Once he was outside the Common Room, he grabbed his mirror and said, "Remus, has she been Obliviated yet?"

"Yes, Peter, she has. James and Sirius are escorting her up there now," Remus said.

"You couldn't tell me why?"

"Because I wanted to see if you were actually paying attention to the time or not. Bye!"

"Peter…" came Sirius' voice from the mirror just as Remus left it.

"Yes?" Peter asked.

"Status?"

"Straight."

"… Not sexuality status, status with Lily and Alice!"

"Acquaintances."

"… What do they think is going on?"

"Oh, that. That's alright, too," Peter said with a laugh.

"Very, very funny, you idiot…" Sirius muttered before leaving the mirror just as abruptly as Remus had. Peter rushed into the bathroom in order to change back, and, to the Marauders, all was right with the world… Or so they believed.

**A/N: Took a while, and was rather boring. –sigh- Sorry! TT**


	7. Alice's Adventure

**Of Secrets and Stags**

**Note – This chapter shall be unusual. It's from Alice's POV and it helps show her part in James and Lily's oncoming relationship. This chapter also helps devolp her character 'just' a bit. I hope you enjoy it.**

I've been thinking about it for some time now. As Lily as apparently not noticed, James is… much different. I guess she's predjudiced for the things he used to do to her. At first, it was just meaningless picking on her. I don't think he devolped feelings for her until the 5th year. Before that, she was just fun to pick on because she had such a huge temper. I think the first time he asked her out that he might have been serious. I think every time he asked her out, he was probably serious, actually. I'm pretty sure that he really does like her a lot, and for someone like him to like someone for two years is pretty amazing, considering he's gone out with just about every girl in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, not to mention half of Ravenclaw (that are of age, of course).

Taking notes on him isn't easy. I have made a few good points, however.

1. He's stopped targeting innocent people.

2. The only real target is Snape.

3. He hasn't played a prank all year.

4. His grades are actually becoming decent, or at least, his grades aren't bad enough for him to be yelled at anymore.

5. He reads books that don't involve Quidditch or anythign vulgar.

6. He's stopped taunting the teachers.

7. He actually seems less involved in Quidditch.

8. He doesn't do that hair thing much anymore, and when he does, he does it without realizing it.

9. He hasn't had a girlfriend all year.

10. He's stopped asking Lily out constantly.

It's a pretty long list so far. I can't believe all the changes that have happened. I don't even think Lily has noticed them, either. She still treats him as though he were scum that should be wiped off the face of the planet. How somoene could think like that, I don't know. I suppose when they patrol "together" they split up or something to avoid confrontation. I don't think I've seen or heard them do anything together that's Head related. In fact, James, other than the mystery Lily and I are trying to solve, has ignored Lily pretty much all year.

Could it be that James doesn't like her anymore?

I'll have to investigate this further.

----

For the past ten nights, I've spied on them. The damn boys don't say much at night. I know they're loud, too. Lily and I can hear them every now and then from our Dormitory. What, do they know I'm listening in on them…?

Wait, I hear someone stomping.

"James! James, get up, you moron!" Sirius yelled.

"What?"

"It's the night before the full moon. You know what that means…" _'No, what does it mean?' _ I couldn't help but think at that.

"My bed or Remus'?"

"No, the floor."

'_What… in… bloody… hell… are… they… doing?'_ I asked myself, getting more and more curious by the second. Perhaps I could find out more about the mystery or even Lily. But it would require being able to see the bastards as well. And then I was struck with a brillant idea.

I grabbed my necklace, which was a locket that Lily had given me and took out my wand. I opened the locket up, revealing a picture of Frank and Lily. "_Eyesight projectum_," I whispered. I could now see out of the locket, but now using my actual eyes. I took the locket off and carefully positioned it so that I could see the Maruaders.

They were in a circle, on the floor, surronded by poker chips and cards. "Okay, strip poker!" Sirius called out loudly.

"No!" hissed Peter and James at the same time. Remus, however, seemed ot have no problem with it.

'_Oh, god. Remus is a pouf.'_ I thought with an inward chuckle.

"Okay, Padfoot, you deal," James said, passing the deck to Sirius.

"Gotcha, Prongs," Sirius said as he started passing the cards out.

"Peter, how much do they know?" Remus asked as he calmly collected his cards.

"Yeah, what exactly did Lily say?" James asked.

"Oh… She said something about how you were helping with a stranger's transformation that was getting to close to the school. She also said that the stag was only being controlled by James," Peter said quickly.

'_That's the most he's ever said…'_ I thought again with an inward laugh.

Remus, James and Sirius exchanged worried glances. "What?" Peter asked, looking back and forth between the three, completely confused.

"Well… It just seems like they'd be smart enough to realize that…" Remus trailed off.

"That Moony is the werewolf and James is the stag," Sirius finished for him, putting his arm around his neck.

"Do you have to be so loud?" Remus practically whimpered as he dug his head into his chest.

"Told you. Remus is getting closer. Give it up, Peter," James demanded as he stuck his open palm out.

Peter sighed and handed him a blue poker chip and muttered, "I didn't think that he'd actually try to scoot closer…"

"Yeah, well you obviously have no clue how relationships go. Get yourself a girl," James prodded.

"Well, I did have my eyes on… Nevermind," Peter squeaked.

"C'mon, Wormtail! You can tell us!" Sirius said loudly.

"Er… Alice…"

The other Mauraders burst out into laughter as I blushed a deep red. _'And this pervert was supposed to pretend to be me? He probably went to the bathroom to see me naked or something like that!'_

"It… must… have… been… interesting… to… be… her!" James said between laughs.

"Yeah, kind of like the equilvilent of you being Evans!" Sirius laughed out.

'_Aha!' _I thought. _'Now, I know the truth for sure about both James and Lily and the werewolf situation'_

"That technique is going to make you a master Auror one day," Lily whispered to me. I, of course, having not been able to see her, jumped and nearly dropped my locket, er, eyes.

"Um…" I began, not knowing what to say, after ending the charm.

"We'll discuss it in the Dormitory, Alice," Lily said with a look of hatred in her eyes.

"Right…"

----

"So, that's the truth, then?" Lily said, surprised.

"Yes. Remus is a werewolf, James was the stag," I confirmed.

"I… I can't believe it…"

"Yeah, I know. Remus is the nicest Maruader, it's hard to comprehend that he's actually…"

"Not that!"

"What?"

"Potter… was the one who saved… me?" Lily whispered, shocked.

"Yeah…" I said softly, looking down. "You know, he really has changed," I said, a little louder and looking back up at Lily. She had a mixture of amazement, shock and anger on her face.

"Nothing has changed about that bastard," Lily said, shooting a direct icy look at me.

"Lily, listen…"

"Don't 'Lily, listen' me!" she yelled before hiding under her covers.

I sighed and shook my head. _'She really is like a child sometimes… I guess she just can't believe it. I'll… I'll talk to her in the morning or afternoon about it…'_ I yawned and laid my head on my pillow. Before I realized it, I was fast asleep.


	8. James' Oppurtunity

**Of Secrets and Stags**

'_She can't possibly think that I should give that prat a chance!'_ Lily thought as she flopped over to one side, her back to Alice. _'He's arrogant, selfish and everything gets handed to him on a silver platter! I'm the only thing that he wants that he can't have, so of course he has to pout and be "determined" about it. The only reason that he has "liked" me for so long is because… because I'm the only one he can't have, EVER…'_ Lily's thoughts trailed off as she began to fall asleep. _'But… maybe… I'll start… "observing" myself… to see… if what Alice says… is… true…'_ Lily thought before she fell completely asleep.

----

Lily woke up with a start and rubbed her eyes furiously. She glanced out the window, expecting to still see a closed curtain. She jumped up, however, when she noticed the curtain was wide open. It was only wide open when Alice opened it before leaving, which normally woke Lily right up.

"Bloody hell!" Lily cried as she jumped up and ran to her wardrobe, pulling clothes out quickly and getting prepared with much more speed than normal. She raced down the steps to the empty Common Room and glanced at the clock, hoping that she wasn't already late for her first class.

"Ten minutes… I can get to Slughorn's class in ten minutes if I sprint…" she muttered to herself as she threw the portrait hole open, slamming t shut behind her to the protest of the Fat Lady.

"Sorry!" she called back behind her as she ran down the steps, two at a time.

----

James sighed as he walked into the Potions classroom. Peter was already sitting next to Sirius, much to James' and Sirius' disapproval. Sirius looked back at James and gave him a look that plainly read, "I can make him go away if you want to sit here." James smirked and shook his head, declining Sirius's offer for the spot behind him. Remus was out in the Hospital Wing for pre-transformation preparations.

James stared at the board as Slughorn began to jot down notes and directions for their Invisibility Potion. James scoffed under his breath, causing both Peter and Sirius to smirk at the thought of James' Invisibility Cloak. After all, who needs a potion when you can use a cloak?

Loud footsteps could be heard coming from outside the room just before the door slammed open, revealing a panting Lily Evans.

----

Lily made it to her class just in time for the bell to ring. Slughorn gave her one curt nod, telling her that everything was fine. She sighed and looked around the room for an empty seat. There were only two—one by James Potter and one by Lucius Malfoy. Frank already occupied the seat next to Alice, and she couldn't tell him to move. She had to decide between a few hours' worth of torture or death.

Torture it had to be.

With a low growl, she placed her things neatly to the side of her chair and took the seat next to James, much to his delight. She glanced down at his bag, which was wayward and had bits of parchment and quills sticking out of the top, with rips nearly everywhere.

'_He's definitely just as irresponsible as before, IF not worse,'_ Lily thought with an inward scoff as she took out a neat piece of parchment and jotted down notes to the potion.

"Class, today you will be doing this potion. You'll partner up with the one you're sitting beside—Mr. Malfoy, you'll have to join a group of three at Parkinson's and Bulstrode's table, I'm afraid," Professor Slughorn said as he motioned for Lucius to joint he other Slytherins. Lily both sighed in relief and scoffed in displeasure. She winced, expecting some sort of comment from James.

"I'll make this as painless as possible for you," he whispered, all the while keeping his eyes on Professor Slughorn. She turned in surprise to him and gaped. James took this opportunity to wink at her, all the while keeping that smug smirk of his.

"You… PERVERT!" she cried out in surprise, thinking he was flirting with her, not trying to comfort her. She smacked him across the head, hard.

"I didn't mean anything by it! Which one of US is the pervert, the one who says perfectly innocent comments or the one that twists the innocent comments into something vulgar?" James cried out in his defense, attempting to block the majority of his head from Lily's attacks.

"That's ENOUGH, Potter, Evans!" Slughorn yelled. Lily paled visibly, and then blushed. James, however, simply straightened in his chair nonchalantly.

"I DO believe you two need to get along better! Not only as fellow housemates, but also as Head Boy and Head Girl! If YOU two are the best in the school, I HATE to see what the rest of this lot act like!" Slughorn thought a moment before a devilish gleam appeared in his eyes. "I won't assign detention, but I will make you two lab partners for however long I deem it necessary. Which could mean the rest of the year," he added.

Lily looked back at James, gaping like she had just been sentenced to death. James, however, looked like Christmas had come early.

"Don't look so smug!" she cried out and hit him across the back of the head. _'Responsible my ARSE!'_ she through angrily as she huffed and sat back down beside him.

Needless to say, potions dragged on forever.

----

As the students departed, everyone, especially the Slytherins, couldn't help but snicker as they passed Lily and James. Lily seemed to glare inwardly and outwardly at every single person who laughed, but James just took it all in stride.

"Lily, I'll catch up to you at Herbology. There's something I need to discuss with Slughorn," Alice said with a bright smile, excusing herself from having to hear another one of Lily's rants.

"Well, okay… But hurry up, I want to get partnered with you, not Potter at Herbology," Lily muttered.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about you not getting up early enough. I thought the curtain thing always worked," Alice said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I did, too… I guess I stayed up last night thinking too much…" Lily muttered.

"I went to sleep right away, so I got enough. You really need to save this thinking thing for daytime hours, you know," Alice said jokingly.

Lily nodded and trudged slowly out of the classroom. The Marauders walked out of the class, being the last ones (excluding Alice) to leave. Alice waited a minute before hurrying out of the classroom and tapping James on the shoulder.

"Sorry, but… could I have a word with you?" Alice asked politely. She turned to the Sirius and Peter and said, "I'll just borrow him for a few minutes before Herbology."

"Okay," Sirius said happily before he and Peter hurried off to Herbology.

"So, what about Lily do you want to talk to me about?" James asked with a raised eyebrow after Sirius and Peter were well out of earshot.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way… But I want to help you with Lily. By no means am I playing matchmaker. But… I can see you've grown up, even if it is just by a little bit. And I think Lily could use a friend like you. Whether or not it goes beyond that is up to you," Alice said, being someone completely against beating around the bush.

James' eyes popped open and then he sighed. "You're… actually helping me? Why?"

"Like I said. I think Lily could use a friend like you. Besides… you'd make a cute couple," she added with a wink before skipping off to Herbology, leaving a very shocked and mortified James behind.

James' only thoughts? _'Would we REALLY make a cute couple? It's bad when my friends say it, but when HER friends say it… I just might have a chance…'_ Filled with restored hope, James walked slowly and nonchalantly to Herbology. _'Maybe getting "stuck" with Lily will be the best experience of my year…'_

**A/N: Not too long, not too short. Keep the reviews coming!**


	9. Respect

**Of Secrets and Stags**

'_Damn him damn him damn him…' _Lily chanted in her mind as she collected her things for Potions. She had to keep calm, perhaps meditate in mid-class. She sighed and shook her head. "Either I or James will die if we have to continue taking classes together like this…" she muttered as she put her bag over her shoulder and, once again, sighed. "Here we go…" she said loudly, attempting to prod herself.

"Just go to breakfast!" Alice yelled exasperatedly, tired of Lily's somewhat insane out loud thoughts.

Lily ate breakfast slowly, glaring at an unaware James every few bites. Alice sighed every time she did so, hoping that she could somehow figure out a way for her to somehow be able to get over her prejudices and somehow be able to stand him.

"Come on, Lily… If we hurry, you can at least get a table by me…" Alice muttered, knowing that James would sit next to her no matter where she sat, and would also give her a better spying position.

"Okay…" Lily said submissively, following her friend to the Potions classroom. Frank walked alongside Alice quietly, and Lily looked between the two of them. She leaned towards Alice and whispered, "Hey, how are you and Frank doing, anyways?"

Alice shrugged. "Alright… Not good, not bad," Alice admitted out loud. Frank raised an eyebrow but continued to simply stare ahead.

"Do you get any quality time with him?" Lily asked.

"Not much," Alice replied, once again out loud instead of whispering like Lily was.

"You ought to!" Lily exclaimed. "It'll never get anywhere unless you do!" Lily said, and immediately covered her mouth.

Frank smirked ever so slightly and chuckled at Lily before putting his arm around Alice. "Don't worry about us… We both get our kicks by helping out other people's relationships… But, you are right. Alice, wanna go take a walk by the lake after classes?"

"I'd be delighted," Alice said sweetly as she squeezed his arm tightly for a second, loosened her grip, but continued to hold on.

Lily smirked and put her hands behind her head. "You two make a cute couple. I wish I had someone that I had like you two have," Lily mused out loud.

Alice laughed and said, "I'm sure there's someone just around the corner—you just have to keep your eyes out and open," she not so subtly hinted, but Lily didn't catch it.

"Yeah… I'll keep them open," Lily said nonchalantly as they entered the Potions classroom. Alice and Frank took the table in the direct middle, as it was the only one that had a table open behind it. Lily sighed and took her seat, knowing it wasn't long until James arrived.

As if right on cue, James walked in just as she sighed. He gave her a small smile and took the seat next to her. _'There was… something different from his usual look… He smiled instead of smirking… Maybe, just maybe—no. Not possible. James couldn't have changed. It's a constant: James will always be a stuck-up, arrogant prick.'_ Lily thought, faltering from her normal anti-James mood.

Sirius and Remus took the table behind James and Lily, leaving Remus to sit with Snape. James and Sirius winced at the same time, and Remus gave him a sympathetic look. Peter, however, just shrugged it off and gave them a look that plainly said that he'd be all right.

"Okay, class! Let's get started! Today, we'll be doing a very simple yet time-consuming potion that allows you to hear what the drinker is thinking. Can anyone tell me what the name of this potion is?" Professor Slughorn asked, glancing around the room expectantly.

Only a few raised their hands—Lily, James, Remus, Snape and Malfoy. Professor Slughorn pointed to James and muttered, "Potter" just loud enough for him to hear.

"It's called the Telepathy Elixir, _Professor_ Slughorn," James said coldly, making sure to emphasize the Professor. Lily looked at him, shocked for a moment, attempting to figure out what happened.

Professor Slughorn raised an eyebrow, not sure why James was acting so coldly towards him. "Quite right… I suppose working with the brilliant Ms. Evans has had some effect on you, eh? 15 points to Gryffindor," Slughorn said, making most of the Slytherins groan or mutter.

"The directions to the potion on the board—if you don't complete it, you'll have to come back after classes with your partner and finish. Begin," Professor Slughorn announced, instigating everyone to start rustling through their bags for quills, parchment (if they were the type that had to write it down), and supplies.

"Okay… I suppose I'll start chopping the root while you add the flobberworm goop," James suggested. Lily nodded obediently and set the cauldron up in between the two of them. She grabbed the container of "flobberworm goop" and held it over the cauldron, waiting as the "goop" slowly poured out.

"Can… Can I ask you a question?" Lily asked tentatively.

"Respect," James immediately replied.

"Huh?" Lily asked, pulled backwards slightly in surprise.

"Your question was going to be, 'Why did you speak to Professor Slughorn like that? He did nothing wrong,' right?" James asked, flashy her a toothy smirk.

"Well, yeah…" Lily admitted as she hit the bottom of the container to help the flobberworm pus to go faster.

"It was because Professor Slughorn doesn't treat me with as much respect as he does the other students. He called me 'Potter', not 'Mr. Potter'. He called you Ms. Evans, after all, didn't he? He does the same with Sirius—just because we were—are—troublemakers doesn't mean we don't deserve respect, right?" James prompted, hoping that Lily would agree with him.

"You… You have a point. I guess I never noticed it before…" Lily muttered thoughtfully.

"Yeah, few people do. Most Professors do that. The only two that don't are Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall," James replied as he finished chopping up the willow root, adding it to the half-full cauldron of flobberworm pus.

"Now we have to add the powdered Manticore claw and turn it counterclockwise five times, then let it boil…" James muttered as he glanced across the board. "Turn or add the claw?" James asked Lily.

"Um… I'll turn," Lily said as she took the large wooden spoon and began to stir the potion. She glanced over at him as he leaned down and thought about him for a moment before continuing to stir the potion. _'He's… really not as bad… As I thought before… But… My pride won't allow me to act differently towards him… Well, no, that's… not completely true. I can allow myself to at least stop yelling at him and treat him with some degree of respect. He is a deep thinker and he's not as conceited as I thought before, but… He's still an arrogant prick. Maybe he's not stuck-up, though…'_ Lily gave herself a soft smile before puling away for James to add the powdered claw.

Class ended a little quicker than Lily expected. As soon as class ended and everyone began to head toward the Charms classroom, Alice ran to catch up to Lily (Lily moved faster than her).

"I noticed you and James actually got along," Alice said with a small wink.

"Yeah, well… I don't like him, but I can stand him as a classmate," Lily admitted.

"I see. What, your pride doesn't allow you and him to be friends?" Alice asked with a laugh.

"Well…" Lily began trailing off and biting her bottom lip.

"Oh, my god. You're kidding. It's _pride_ that's the problem?" Alice asked with a shocked expression (and just a _slight_ tone of anger).

"Yeah…" Lily muttered.

"Lily. Give him a chance," Alice said in a demanding tone.

"I am!" Lily exclaimed automatically. "Well, sort of…" she admitted after pausing for a half-minute.

"See? He's… actually a sweet guy, Lily," Alice said softly.

"Sweet? Ha! He's gone from an arrogant, stuck-up prick to an arrogant prick! That's all," Lily said, giving a slight glare at the last few words.

"Lily… You're being stubborn again," Alice said, as if she were talking to a child.

"No, I'm not! I refuse to become _friends_ with him. I'd much rather just be an understanding classmate," Lily said coldly.

"Oh, speaking of that, the full moon is tonight," Alice said coolly, as if she were speaking of Astronomy and not werewolves.

"Huh, you're right…" Lily said.

Alice glanced around quickly and muttered to her, "What are you going to do with James?"

Lily shrugged and replied, "I'm going to ask the Prefects help me patrol and say that James is excused. I'll tell him so myself," Lily said, ending with a sigh.

"Good," Alice said with a small nod as they walked out the door that led to the Herbology greenhouses.

As soon as he was sure that the door was closed and they were long away, Snape came out of his hiding place behind the statue and stared at the door. "I'm going to have to watch Potter tonight…" Snape said in a dangerous tone.


	10. Taking Care of Snape

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"Just go!" Alice said, nudging her up the stairs.

"Well, can't I just tell him on his way out?" Lily asked in a loud whisper.

"No! Now!" Alice yelled and stopped pushing Lily when she relaxed and sighed.

"Fine. I'll go… Can't you go for emotional support?" Lily begged.

"No. Only two can fit on the stairs," Alice said with a laugh.

"… If I hide in front of you…" Lily began.

"No! Just go!" Alice yelled.

Lily finally sighed and trudged up the stairs as if she were asking James to judge whether or not she deserved to live.

She knocked slowly on the door, which was normally kept open, to the Boy's Dormitory. She bit her bottom lip as the doorknob turned, but pretended to relax when James leaned out.

"L—Evans?" He asked curiously, hoping that Lily didn't catch his falter.

"Well, _James_… I just want you to know… You're excused of duty tonight. Both Alice and I… know the truth. When Remus is out of the Hospital Wing, you Marauders, Alice and I can all… talk… about it," Lily said, holding back a blush as much as she possibly could.

James let out a wide smile and hugged Lily briefly before turning around and grabbing a cloak. "Thanks!" he cried out as he dashed down the stairs and out the Portrait Hole. Lily stood slowly; still somewhat mortified at the friendly hug James had given her before shaking her head and descending the stairs.

"Okay, Gryffindors!" Lily called out with a clap of her hands. "Are the two Prefects from Gryffindor present here?" she asked. Jonathan Wood and Monica Jordan stood up and turned to Lily.

"Yes?" Monica asked, having always been the less shy Prefect.

"I'm sorry, I know that it's not your night for patrol… But, could you two help me out? James can't make it," Lily explained briefly. They nodded and walked with Lily outside the Portrait Hole and down the dark corridors.

----

The four (actually, five) walked quickly towards the Whomping Willow. James motioned for Peter to transform into his Animangus form, as did Sirius and James. Remus stood back, waiting for Peter to push the knot so they could rush down the Whomping Willow's dark tunnel.

Peter, more slowly than normal, pushed the small knot and began to race down the dark tunnel in his rat form, making it unable to discriminate him from the other rats in the tunnel. Sirius sprinted down the tunnel beside Remus, and James galloped towards the end of the tunnel, ahead of all three of them. Snape watched in awe as Remus began to transform before his very eyes. He glared in their directions before thinking to himself about his next plan of action.

'_It would be best not to hang around them all day. In fact, I'll approach them after Lupin has fully recovered… I should go ahead and quickly brew that anti-Obliviate potion for when I confront them, so that they don't try to remove it from my memories. Thank you for once, Father, for teaching me that secret Snape family potion…'_ Snape thought to himself with a smirk before he ran back towards the school, making sure to touch the knot on his way out. _'And thank you, "Marauders" for teaching me this little bit of important information,'_ Snape added to himself as he left the dark, damp tunnel of the Whomping Willow.

----

"Great! No causalities once again!" James cried out in the Hospital Wing as he, Sirius and Peter walked up to Remus with huge smiles on their faces.

"Yeah, and Poppy said you could get out of the Hospital Wing _tomorrow_," Sirius said with a happy smirk.

"That's a record!" Peter gasped out. Remus laughed and nodded at him with a smile, knowing how amazed Peter must be.

"Hiya, Marauders," Alice said with a small smile as she, Lily and Frank walked up to them leisurely.

Lily waved at them with an unconvincing smile. She stood next to Remus' bed and handed him a small, parchment wrapped box.

"A… present?" Remus asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, well…" Lily said with a small blush and a shrug.

Remus tore the box open and laughed. "Chocolate Frogs. You'd make a good medical witch, Lily. You know the perfect medicine already!" Remus cried out happily. Sirius, James and Alice laughed lightly.

'_This is strange… We're all laughing like this, despite the fact that Remus just made his transformation last night…'_ Lily thought with an inward chuckle.

"Sorry we can't visit for longer. Lily wanted to drop that off for you, Remus. It's her last one, and she decided that you could use it," Alice said with a smirk.

"I already told you, it's not like that!" Lily cried out in frustration.

Remus did his best to hold back a laugh as James and Sirius burst out laughing.

"Anyways, we'll speak to you guys in your Dormitory tomorrow night after Remus gets out," Lily whispered to James quickly before she bid them all farewell.

Just at that moment, Snape walked in and glanced around, before he saw them and smirked. He strode over to them slowly, making every single one of them tense. "Excuse me, but we have something to discuss now. I've got Madam Pomfrey occupied at the moment, so there's no worries," he said, a strange glint in his eyes.

"What could _you_ possibly have to talk to _us_ about, _Snape_," James spat out at him.

"Let's just say… It involves last night," Snape said, folding his arms over his chest and smirking, if possible, even more maliciously.

"Frank, could you leave for a little bit?" Alice asked quickly, a pleading look in her eyes.

Frank looked shocked for a few seconds before smiling lightly and nodding. "I'll see you tonight," he said tenderly to Alice before turning to Snape. "Do anything to harm her and I'll kill you," he said with a glare. He turned to James and gave him a look that plainly said, "Please look out for her" before he walked out of the Hospital Wing.

Lily suppressed an "Awww" before she turned to Snape and glared. "How do you know about that?" she asked acidly.

"Incidentally, it was you and your girlfriend who told me. Let's just say that you should be careful what you say, even if you're sure no one is around," Snape said, laughing at Lily's shocked expression.

"Why, you…!" James cried out before lunging at him, only to be held back by Sirius and Peter, who could read his movements. Sirius held him back as he glared at Snape, while Peter held him back and stared at James. "Let me go! I'll kill him painlessly, I promise! Just one quick little spell and it'll all be over!" James yelled out, struggling against his friends' hold. He eventually stopped thrashing and they released him.

"Now, let's see…What can I do with this vital piece of information? Oh, I know. I can tell the entire school… Unless you stage a false fight, in which I miraculously win. And I get to go out with Evans for the remainder of the year," Snape added as an afterthought.

"Damn you!" James hissed. It wasn't the first bit he was concerned about—it was the second part.

"Who's to say I just won't Obliviate you, right here and now?" Lily asked menacingly, pointing the wand at Snape's head.

"Go ahead and try it. I've already taken the anti-Obliviate potion," Snape said with a laugh.

"Fine. _Stupefy_," Lily said, replacing the Obliviate spell with the Stunning Spell.

"So, what in bloody hell are we going to do?" James asked.

----

"I'm… I'm really sorry…" Lily said once again to Remus, Alice nodding in agreement. The three of them were in the Hospital Wing, just before curfew, while the Marauders were in the Common Room talking.

"It's okay…" Remus replied for the thousandth time.

"We… No, it's not okay! We… We gave away your secret…!" Lily cried out dramatically.

"Like I said, it's okay. We've already got a plan," Remus said, once again dismissing their apologies.

"A plan? What plan?" Alice asked with her right eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Well, James is… He's going to replace Snape's memories of finding out with James telling him to meet him in the forest, his memories of my transformation with James saving his life from a werewolf, and his memories of our experience in the Hospital Wing with him confronting James only to decide to be silent about the whole thing, since James saved his life," Remus said with a shrug.

"He… He did that…. For me?" Lily whispered in shock. She turned back to Remus. "Was… J--Potter really the stag?" she asked, an amazed look in her eyes.

"Yeah. He was. I'm sorry for that, as well, Lily… I could have killed you," Remus said, a very sad expression on his face.

"It's no problem. I'm fine, thanks to James…" she said, trailing off at the end.

"Something wrong, Lily?" Alice asked, putting a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah… my judgment, apparently," Lily said sourly as she stood up. "I have to tell James something… Tomorrow, when you get out, I still want to talk to you guys… But, I want to talk to James first," Lily said, standing abruptly and racing out of the Hospital Wing.

"Um, I'll go after her. Good night, Remus. Sweet dreams," Alice said, waving and walking out of the Hospital Wing at a strolling pace as opposed to Lily's dashing speed.

"Good night, Alice. Am I to understand that the Marauders and you two are on first name bases now?" Remus asked with a laugh.

"It appears so!" Alice said with a huge smile. Remus laughed lightly, looking out the window as she walked out.

'_My favorite phase of the moon… Gosh, I love the new moon…'_ Remus thought happily.

"Okay, bed!" Madam Pomfrey called out as she walked quickly towards Remus. "Take this and go to sleep. You're getting out tomorrow, so be thankful," Madam Pomfrey said as she handed him a glass of syrupy-looking medicine.

"The sweet stuff? You only give this to me on special occasions," Remus said as he sipped at it tentatively before gulping it down.

"It is a special occasion. You getting better this quickly is pretty special. Besides, it's your last year. What other werewolf student can I give it to?" Madam Pomfrey said in a sweet tone.

Remus smiled at her and yawned, knowing that the medicine had sleeping medicine in it. "True… Thank you, Madam Pomfrey…" Remus said as he fell asleep. Madam Pomfrey looked at him with a soft, loving expression before covering him up completely with his cover and laying him in a more comfortable position.

"Goodnight, Remus," she whispered before preparing for bed herself.

**A/N: I got rid of the Snape angle as soon as I could. I didn't want him to be in my story for more than two chapters. -growls- ANYways, I tried to make up for how long it took to get it out by making it longer. I can't write much while my dad's girlfriend's family is here—too many distractions, especially when her darn grandson comes… -glares- Thanks for reading, please review!**


	11. A Truce And A Peace Treaty

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"James…" Lily panted as she stumbled into the Common Room. "James… Potter…" _'Maybe running wasn't such a good idea…'_ she thought to herself ruefully as she walked over to his spot on the couch, in front of the fireplace.

Noting how tired and already hot she looked, he said, "How about we go talk over there…? You'll probably feel better after having a Butterbeer," he offered.

"Butterbeer? How'd you…? Never mind. That doesn't… matter," Lily said, still slightly out of breath. She followed him to the other side of the room, next to the slightly open window, which felt much cooler. She drank down the Butterbeer in a few gulps and sighed.

"James… This is… hard for me to say… but, we need a truce," Lily started off easily enough.

"A… truce?" James asked, slightly confused. She just ran in here that quickly for a truce?

"Yeah… a truce," Lily said.

"Wait. I've just noticed something. When did my name go from Potter to James?" James asked with a laugh.

Lily shrugged and smirked. "Since I deemed you worthy of being called James," Lily said, mocking his usual arrogant tone.

"And… what did I do to deserve as such?" James asked curiously.

"You… grew up, I guess, is a good term," Lily said after thinking it over for a moment.

"Ahh… And we're just noticing this now?" James asked with a laugh.

Lily cringed slightly and admitted, "I'm… a girl of habit, I guess. I was so used to hating your guts I forgot to give you a chance. Really, you're a whole lot nicer than you appear to be, whether others realize it or not."

"That's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me," James said with a wide-eyed expression.

"Wow. I think I've also said the meanest things to you, though," Lily said with a laugh.

"No, that was Snape," James said seriously.

Lily laughed and sighed. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow… We've got Potions again."

"How long d'ya reckon Slughorn will keep us paired up before realizing we were just fine all along?" James asked.

Lily thought about it for a moment before replying, "I'm not sure… He's rather slow on those sort of things."

----

Lily rubbed her eyes furiously before sitting up and groaning at the offensive light that was hurting her eyes. This, however, wasn't the worst part of her morning.

"Lily! I'm soooooooooooo proud of you!" Alice squealed as she threw her arms around the half-dead Lily Evans, nearly giving her a heart attack. That was the worst part of the morning.

Lily groaned and glared at her friend. "What are you TALKING about?" Lily demanded.

"Last night! You and James' truce turned into a full-blown peace treaty between the Marauders and the…" Alice paused and thought for a moment. "Well, a peace treaty between us and the Marauders," Alice decided before shrugging.

"I… see. So, you're dumping Frank for Peter or something?" Lily asked, still waking up and slightly aggravated at her friend.

"No. Never. Not in a thousand years. But we don't have to worry about pranks and such," Alice said with a victorious laugh.

"Right, right… I'll get dressed and go to breakfast," Lily muttered.

"I wouldn't worry about that. Get dressed and rush to Potions before Slughorn gives you a detention," Alice said "generously".

"Bloody hell!" Lily cried out as she sprinted out of bed and towards her wardrobe, rushing to pull out a new set of robes.

"Ladies shouldn't curse!" Alice said in a singsong voice. "Well, I'm off!" she exclaimed before skipping down the steps and heading towards Potions.

"What a nice BLOODY friend," Lily called out, emphasizing the bloody to get on her nerves.

Lily then dashed down the stairs, two at a time, heading towards the Potions classroom. She ran down the dark corridors of the dungeon and threw open the Potions classroom door.

"Ms. Evans! Are you feeling all right? You're… early!" Slughorn exclaimed. Lily glanced up at the clock and groaned.

"I'm _fine_, but Alice won't be for long…" Lily grumbled. "I'll just…" Lily said and turned towards the door.

"Lily! What did you want to talk to me about?" James asked with his head turned to the side.

"… Alice?" Lily asked.

"No. Sirius sent me. Why?" James asked with a confused tone to his voice.

"Then the masterminds are both of them. They tricked us into coming here," Lily said with a sigh.

"Why?" James asked, completely oblivious.

"They… probably wanted us to talk or something," Lily said with a shrug. "Anyways, it's too late for Breakfast now…" Lily said with a sigh.

"You didn't get Breakfast? Oh, gosh, Alice is evil," James said with a laugh.

"Yeah… I'll survive unless we're doing a food potion. If we're doing a really, really gross one, then it'll probably be better that I haven't eaten," Lily said with a laugh.

"No, not really. I'd throw up, and you'd be watching," James said with a laugh.

"What makes you think I'd watch?"

"Because, no one can look away, no matter how squeamish they are. They stand there and watch, and then they throw up, too," James said with a laugh.

"Have you studied this, or are you a throw up expert?"

"PhD!" James exclaimed, which made Lily laugh.

"Did you take Muggle Studies or something?" Lily asked, genuinely interested. Most Pureblood wizards had no knowledge of PhDs, and it was shocking that James did.

"No, but Sirius did, and I helped him study a couple of times. He took it for a year before quitting, talking about how boring they were. It was rather funny," James said with a laugh.

"Really? You helped him with it?" Lily asked, amazed that he could figure Muggle things out in such a manner.

"Yeah," he paused and laughed before continuing, "I probably could've taken it better than him."

"Settle down, class! Hurry up and get your cauldrons out—today you'll be working on a Mind-Switching Draught. Can anyone tell me what it's effects are and why it's so unpopular?" Slughorn asked.

Many people raised their hands, but Slughorn decided on Lily. "The Mind-Switching Draught allows the person who takes the blue portion of the potion to switch bodies with the person who takes the corresponding yellow potion. The ingredients are hard to find, and very expensive, so few people use it."

Slughorn nodded and replied, "10 points to Gryffindor. Now, we're not brewing it today—I got a limited amount of supplies and I don't want you to waste them—but you will be trying it with the person you're sitting next to. Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, could you distribute the potions?"

They both nodded and complied, Lily passing out the blue potions and James passing out the yellow potions. "Oh, and before any of you get any ideas, no one's going to the bathroom!" Slughorn exclaimed. At that comment, the boys who were switching with girls all groaned, the girls giggled, and the remaining guys laughed at their friends who were switching with girls.

"Okay, take the potions!" Slughorn exclaimed. Everyone slowly sipped at the potions, all of them nervous and scared at switching minds with the person they were sitting next to.

Lily gulped the potion down with her eyes shut tightly, still nervous and scared stiff, but wanting to get it over with. James took the potion at the same time Lily did, hoping Lily wouldn't be able to dig around in his mind and figure out about his true feelings for her.

Lily blinked a few times, surprised that she was staring at herself, who was doing the same. Lily lifted her hands, opening and closing them slowly. The "Lily" sitting across from her was holding her hair as if asking "What in bloody hell is this doing here?"

Lily laughed at James' antics involving her hair. "What do you do with this stuff?"

"Well, I could hack it all off, but… I rather like my hair," Lily said with a laugh.

"True. I like it, too… Just not on me. Nope, I'll stick to the short hairstyle, thanks," James said with a laugh.

"Hmm, you're right. Sirius would look better with long hair, if he took care of it," Lily said after thinking about it.

"How do you stand this stuff!" Sirius exclaimed from across the room, having had to pair with Jana Nott, who had long, raven hair.

"Okay… maybe not…" Lily muttered with a laugh.

----

"Okay, class! Next Monday will be the last class before the Christmas holidays, so look forward to a fun class!" Slughorn yelled, informally dismissing his students.

'_That's right… With all that's been going on, I lost track of time… And this weekend is Hogsmeade, too… I wonder who all else will be staying here?'_ Lily thought to herself as she began packing. "Hey, how many of the Marauders are staying?"

"All of them. It's sort of a tradition," James said with a shrug before asking, "And you and Alice?"

"I'm staying, but Alice isn't. She and Frank are both going to be gone. She's spending half of the break at Frank's place, and then they are going back to her place for the remainder of the break… It's so they can get to know the other's parents," Lily said with a small smile.

"So this means you're hanging out with the Marauders all break, huh?" James asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lily said with a laugh. _'We'll put James to the test, then…'_ Lily thought maliciously as she shouldered her bag.

'_Thank God. I was afraid I'd be missing Lily all break…'_ James thought with an inward sigh of relief.

**A/N: Hehe, I couldn't do a story like this without writing Christmas and Christmas break chapters. I'll be doing an Alice/Frank one, which is the significance of explaining their break here, and I'll be doing a full one on Christmas for all of them, and probably another about Lily hanging out with the Marauders all break… And, a few chapters after that, I'll probably be ending the story. Now you guys have a general overview of what is to come in the story. Man, it's going to be weird writing about Christmas during July… Now I feel like I've made a bad pun. Oh, well. Review, please!  
**


	12. Hogwarts Break

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"I'm going to miss you, Alice," Lily said as she threw her arms around the neck of her best friend.

"Oh, I'll miss you too, Lily. Now, remember—I want that peace treaty to still be in effect when I come back," Alice said with a serious look in her eyes, obviously not joking in any shape or form.

"Why are you so keen on the peace treaty staying in place? Do you want to get closer to them or something?" Lily asked with a laugh, taking the serious tone of her voice as a joke anyways.

"No. I just want to stay friends, okay? We need to stay in alliance if we're going to be able to effectively fight for our side," Alice said with a soft smile, reminding Lily that things were not what they seemed to be at Hogwarts. _'Besides, I want to see James and Lily going out by the time I get back…'_ Alice added to herself.

"All students who are leaving for the holidays, board the train!" Slughorn called out as the caretaker and the gamekeeper both prepared the carriages for the students.

"I've got to go now, Lily. Have fun!" Alice called as she jogged off towards Frank.

"I will! Have fun with Frank!" Lily called back to her, holding back any jokes she could have possibly made at that moment.

----

Lily groaned as the light from the sun disturbed her sleep. She sat up and glared at the curtains, wishing Alice didn't have to put the charm on them to make them automatically open at eight every morning. And, unfortunately for Lily, only Alice knew how to take off the charm. The only result of Lily's efforts was that the curtain now had a singe mark on the bottom right corner. She sighed, got up, and walked to her wardrobe. She put on a pair of jeans and a regular dark-green shirt before tying her hair up in a high ponytail.

She looked into the Common Room to see if anyone else was around, before sighing and setting off for breakfast. The boys had most likely already left, so Lily quickly descended the stairs and headed for the door.

"What, you think the Marauders would leave without an escort?" came the cool voice of James from beside the Girl's Dormitory stairs.

Lily jumped and turned around, surprised that he had been beside the stairs. "I don't need an escort," Lily huffed before heading to the Portrait.

"Okay. Then let me try this. Would you mind terribly if you did me the honor of escorting _me_ to the Great Hall for breakfast?" James asked, bowing lightly.

Lily couldn't help but laugh at his antics, though she couldn't help but think that, if he had done that just a month ago, she would have hexed them. "Well, I do suppose I can fit you into my busy schedule," Lily said in a mock-arrogant voice before offering her arm.

----

"They are _flirting_ like _crazy_," Sirius whispered to Remus, who he was sitting next to as James and Lily slowly walked into the Great Hall, chatting as if they had known each other their entire lives.

"Yeah, but… James probably won't ask her out again… I think he's afraid of ruining what he already _has_," Remus whispered back.

"But he can probably get so much more, if you'll excuse how wrong that sounds," Sirius said back.

Remus nodded and thought for a moment. "You know… We can probably get those two together…" Remus said with a strange glint in his eyes.

"Remmy, you're a genius!" Sirius cried out before hugging his neck.

Remus blushed and stuttered, "W-well, yeah…"

James and Lily sat across from them, sitting side-by-side. Surprisingly, Lily didn't skip a seat or pretend like she didn't know them. She grabbed her plate and began to pile it with bacon, eggs and toast. Remus and Sirius stared at her as she piled it on, and she looked back up at them. "What?" she asked innocently.

"We've just… now noticed that you eat a lot in the mornings…" Sirius said.

Lily blushed and said, "Well, it is the most important meal of the day…"

"That's okay. I'm even worse in the morning," James said immediately, piling even more food on his plate then Lily did.

Remus held back a chuckle as James put way more on his plate then he normally did. Under the table, Sirius nudged Remus and Remus smirked, making sure that both Lily's and James' gazes were on their food and not on them. "C'mon, Padfoot. We need to work on Potions if you're going to make a passing N.E.W.T.!" Remus exclaimed before grabbing Sirius' hand and leading him towards the Library.

"They're plotting," James said simply in between bites of egg.

"How can you tell?" Lily asked with a laugh.

"Because, when Remus has an idea, he always leads Sirius to the Library like that. When Sirius has an idea, he nudges his partner in crime, usually me or Remus, under the table and motions outside their current room or somewhere else with his head," James said with a sigh.

"What could they be plotting?" Lily asked thoughtfully as she bit into her toast.

"Probably something evil during Christmas," James said with a shrug. "But what scares me is that they didn't invite me along."

Lily paused and thought about it for a minute. "Now that you say that, that is scary…"

----

Having not been able to find Sirius or Remus in the Common Room or in the Library, Lily and James were left to wander the school grounds alone together. Lily walked about half a foot away from James before suddenly bending down and quickly forging a snowball. She hurled it at him and hit him in the middle of his back, making him jump and turn to face her.

"You're making a mistake, Lily…" James said with a smirk before she grabbed a handful of snowball and flinging it at her. The snowball fell apart in midair, causing only a small bit of snow to land on Lily's head.

"What, you've only snowball-fought with magic?" Lily asked, giggling like crazy when she noticed how flabbergasted he seemed that his snowball fell apart.

"Yeah…" James said with a laugh.

"Watch," Lily commanded before scooping up a handful of snow and packing it into a tight ball before throwing it at James. James ducked before it could hit his chest, caught it and flung it back. However, it missed (he flung it quickly so his accuracy was off) and Lily caught it, throwing it back quickly. They began hurling the snowball at each other, until it disintegrated in James' hand.

"Are we interrupting?" Remus asked as he and Sirius sauntered towards the pair.

"Yes. You're interrupting a magicless snowball fight," James said with a nod.

"Okay, then we'll just…" Sirius began before he dropped to the ground, quickly made a snowball, and threw it at James, hitting him on the face.

"Padfoot?" James began as he wiped the snow off from his face.

"Yes?" Sirius asked innocently.

"I hope you realize that this means war, my dear mutt," James said before he crouched down and began to make snowballs.

"Stupid Gryffindors. Do you really spend your free time doing something so… childish?" Snape asked as he strolled towards them, a horrible, malicious smirk on his face.

"What do you want, Snape?" James asked, glaring at him with a look of intense loathing.

"Why, do I have to have a reason to call upon my favorite Gryffindors?" Snape inquired, acting as if they were old friends.

"Yes. State your purpose, now," Sirius said, crossing his arms over his chest and standing to one side.

"Ugh, you like a complete pouf like that. Next thing you know, you'll be shagging Lupin senseless," Snape said, rolling his eyes and pretending to gag.

"C'mon, let's go to the Common Room," Lily ushered, grabbing James' arm, trying to pull him along.

James looked back at Snape before nodding and following Lily's lead. "Ha! I knew it! You and that Mudblood are going out! You're completely whipped, Potter!" Snape called back, trying to get a reaction from James.

----

"What happened between you two, anyways?" Lily asked as she took a small sip from her steaming cup of hot chocolate.

"Well… Basically, we got into a fight in our 3rd Year, we made a bet about a duel, I won, and he's been targeting us ever since," James said with a shrug.

"_Mudblood!"__Snape called at the young Lily Evans as he walked out of the compartment, refusing to sit with "trash"._

_After he slammed the compartment door shut, James said coolly to him, "You really shouldn't call people things like that, especially when they're better than you."_

"_What, do you like her or something, Potter?" Snape asked with a smirk._

_James shrugged. "I don't know her that well."_

"_I see. You don't have to know her to like her, though," Snape said with a smirk, causing James to automatically blush. "You think I haven't noticed you staring at her? What's so vexing, so intriguing about a little Mudblood wrench?" _

"_She just is. You don't have the compassion nor the humanity to be able to understand something like that, anyways," James said with a smirk, making sure that he didn't lose the verbal battle just because of something Snape had found out._

"_I hope you know that it'll never go anywhere," Snape said with a cruel smirk before turning around and beginning to walk off._

"_Wait! I'll make a deal with you!" James cried out without thinking._

"_Oh? And what, pray tell, would this deal be?" Snape said with a smirk._

"_We'll duel this Saturday night. If I win, you have to keep quiet about my feelings for Lily. If you win, I'll tell her—no, the entire school—my feelings for her. Deal?" James asked, hoping Snape would take the bet._

"_Deal," Snape said before continuing to walk, not even bothering to turn and face James._

"Oh. That explains it… I guess. What was the bet?" Lily asked curiously.

"I'd rather not say," James said with a small smile.

"… Okay," Lily said, understanding it was something James didn't want to talk about. "So, what do you want to be when you graduate?" Lily asked, effectively changing the subject to something harmless.

----

"They are still constantly flirting, and spending a lot of time together," Remus mused before using his rook to take Sirius' bishop.

"They're practically together as it is," Sirius said with a nod as he thought about his next move. He then moved his queen to take Remus' remaining rook, and added, "Checkmate."

"Yeah, it's just a matter of pushing them onto the next step. If we can't do it alone, we can get Alice to help. She seems like she wants Lily to get a boyfriend," Remus said with a nod before taking Sirius' queen with his bishop.

"Ahh! How did I not notice that?" Sirius cried out, surprised that he had just lost his queen.

"You were too preoccupied with my king," Remus said with a shrug.

"I was preoccupied with myself? That makes no sense…" Sirius said with a laugh, effectively causing Remus to blush.

"So then, how did I take myself?" Remus asked with a laugh after he got over Sirius' comment.

----

"Is it just me, or are those two flirting?" Lily asked James.

"… It's just you," James said reluctantly, not sure if they'd want Lily knowing their secret.

"Oh. Darn. They'd make a cute couple…" Lily mused as she sipped her hot chocolate.

**A/N: Teehee, now Sirius and Remus are into getting them officially together. And Lily and James are spending a lot of time together, but just as friends (for now, lolol). This will be the last update before Sunday, maybe Monday, since I'll be going on a camping trip this weekend with my family and my dad's girlfriend's family. Review, please, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	13. Frank's 'Test'

**Of Secrets and Stags**

Frank couldn't believe how nervous he was as he and Alice awaited Alice's parents' arrival at the platform.

"Relax, Frank. It'll be okay. Trust me, if I know them, they'll absolutely love you. And I know my own parents," Alice said with a soft, reassuring smile as she grabbed his hand and rubbed it lightly.

Frank smiled and nodded at her. "Okay. I believe you. Thanks, Alice," Frank replied gratefully.

"There they are! Alice, honey!" Alice's mother exclaimed as she came running up to her daughter and threw her arms around her neck before kissing her on the cheek.

"Mum!" Alice exclaimed after squealing happily and throwing her own arms around her mother's neck.

"Hello, Ali," her father said with a broad smile as her daughter ran to him and practically tackled him.

"Daddy!" she cried out, happy to see her father once again (she was, after all, a Daddy's girl).

"And this must be the Frank Malcolm Longbottom we've heard constantly about," Alice's father said as he grasped Frank's hand firmly and shook it vigorously.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Johansson," Frank said formally.

"Mr. Johansson? Who's that? Call me Tony!" he cried out before clapping him on the back—hard—and continued, "Also, call her Jenna. There's going to be no formalities here—none at all. We want to have a nice break, right?"

Frank smiled, already seeing that Alice got her charismaticness from both parents. He nodded a few times shyly, before being ushered to Tony and Jenna's car.

----

"So, what do you want to be when you graduate?" Tony asked as they sat around the coffee table. Frank and Alice sat side-by-side on the couch, while Tony and Jenna shared a reclining chair (Tony took up the cushion, while Jenna sat on the arm of the chair).

"I want to be an Auror. If you don't mind my asking, what do you and Jenna do?" Frank asked, still no used to the 'no formalities' rule.

Tony laughed before saying, "I'm a retired Auror, and Jenna here is a top medic at St. Mungo's. What's your favorite school subject?"

"Herbology, definitely! I don't know why, but I have a natural…" Frank began, but then realized how crazy he sounded, and finished off shyly, "Flair and love for it, I guess…"

"Herbology, eh? That's not much help in being an Auror," Tony said with his eyebrow raised.

"Well, after the war's over… I will probably switch to being something I like a little more… I want to do what I can for the Light side, and being an Auror is the best way to help…" Frank admitted.

Tony nodded knowingly and said, "Many young people such as yourself have that trail of thought—on both sides. It's sad when the youth of today can't pick a job they want because they want to help the war effort."

"Anyways, so, what is your mother like?" Jenna asked, trying to stay off of the heavy subjects, such as war.

"My mom… She's strict, over-protective and very disagreeable. I'm the only one she has left, after dad died. She's still sweet and kind, but… She seems to expect me to be a clone of my dad…" Frank said, looking down as his mind brought up painful memories of his mother's lectures.

"I see. I hate parents like that, who are always comparing their children, when they have perfectly good ones already…" Tony said.

"I think it's getting just a bit late. You two must be exhausted after all that moving, huh? I'll show you two to your room," Jenna said as she and Tony stood up. Frank and Alice stared up at her, their mouths gaped open in silent Os.

"Our… room?" Alice asked curiously, wondering what her parents were thinking.

"Yes, your room. The guest room is under a bit of construction, and the couch is much too uncomfortable for Frank here. So you'll both be staying in your room, Alice. I conjured up a bunk bed for the both of you," Jenna said, completely unfazed and still smiling brightly, as if it was nothing wrong with them sleeping in the same room alone.

"Okay…" Frank said as he grabbed his suitcase in one hand and Alice's in the other.

"Such a polite young man! Don't worry; I'll handle Alice's. Two suitcases at once is a strain, even for a healthy young man such as yourself," Tony said as he grabbed Alice's suitcase from Frank's right hand.

Frank simply nodded and continued up the stairs, hoisting the suitcase in front of him and kicked it upwards with his legs. Tony, he noticed, had no need to carrying it like that—he simply held it in one hand and walked right up the stairs. Frank was amazed at how, even a man at his age, had such strength.

Tony turned back to him at the top of the stairs and winked. "If you're going to be an Auror, you need to have physical strength as well as intelligence and magical power," he said before turning down the hallway and opening up the door to Alice's room.

Frank walked in the room and his eyes popped open. The room was large and spacious, even with a large vanity dresser, the bunk beds, a desk, and a large bookcase. There was a door to one side, which he presumed led to her closet, and a window just across from the bed. "Whoa…" he couldn't help but say as he walked in.

Alice shrugged and laughed. "I'm the only daughter of a rich couple. How much do you think an Auror and a medical witch make a month?"

Frank laughed and smiled. "Not a clue, not a clue…" he said with a shrug.

"Alright. We'll leave you two to sleeping, then," Jenna said, clapping her hands together. Alice hugged and kissed her parents goodnight before leaving the room.

Jenna and Tony watched Alice and Frank from their room as Alice and Frank looked at each other with inquisitive looks. "Um… where do I change?" Frank asked nervously.

"You can use my closet. It's bigger than it looks…" Alice said with a laugh. "I'll change in here. Oh, and I call top bunk!" she cried out childishly.

Frank laughed at her antics before opening the closet door, his nightclothes in his hand. He gasped when he realized that the closet was, indeed, huge. It was actually more of a walk-in closet than a normal, everyday closet. He visibly paled, suddenly overcome by a great wave of doubt. _'How… how can I provide Alice with such things? She's got to be used to getting everything she wants—no, deserves! I… can't provide her with things like this… Her parents must be expecting me to treat her even better than this, even better than they do!'_ Frank thought frantically as stood in the middle of the closet, frozen.

"I'm done, Frank! It's safe to come out of the closet!" Alice called, knocking Frank out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, I'll be a minute more…" Frank called back out shyly.

"Jeez, a guy isn't supposed to change slower than a girl…" Alice mock-complained from outside of the closet. Frank smirked slightly when he pictured the look and stance she probably had—whether the people in his year or house realized, he really did know her well. It may seem like they didn't spend enough time together, but during the times they did, it was always deep conversations or simple cuddling. The furthest they had gotten in their relationship physically was a small peck on the lips thus far, and neither one were trying to move quickly in the relationship. It was more of a sweet, slow companionship than anything else.

Frank changed at super-speed, wanting to make sure he remained unsuspicious. He walked out of the closet with his dirty pants in one hand and his shirt over one shoulder. "Took ya long enough," Alice said with a laugh.

"Yeah, well…" Frank said with a shrug, discarding the comment easily.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head to one side sweetly and nonchalantly, but her eyes were filled with worry.

"No, I'm fine," Frank said with a small smile.

"No. No, you're not. You're worried. I can tell, Frank," Alice said, a serious expression on her face.

"It's… nothing I want to talk about…" he admitted with a small blush as he looked down to his left.

She walked up to him and grabbed his arm, bringing his attention back up to her. "I can tell. Please, tell me. I thought we established that we can talk to each other about _any_thing," she said, a determined aura about her.

He sighed and used his free hand to ruffle the back of his hair, the way he did all the time when he was about to tell her something he'd rather not. "I'm… I know I'm being presumptuous, but… I don't think I can give you the kind of things your parents can give you. I don't have as much money, and… You're so used to this extravagant lifestyle, I'm…"

Alice suddenly burst out laughing. "Is that all?"

"It seemed like a big deal to me…" Frank said, hurt that she was laughing so lightly at something that was so big to him.

"Relax. The money thing isn't important. I love you more than the money. What, you think my parents raised a spoiled-rotten brat? Haven't you noticed I don't bring these kinds of things to Hogwarts? Money doesn't matter—people do. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. I know," Frank said, a soft smile on his face.

Alice touched his cheek and smiled. "Now, that's the Frank I know. And, anyways, there's something else to address. Are you saying you're definitely going to marry me?" Alice asked with a smirk.

Frank stiffened and laughed. "Like I said, I was being presumptuous…"

"It's okay to presume," Alice said with a laugh. "If the presumptions are true, that is," Alice said with a teasing shrug.

"Oh, that's no fair. That doesn't help me out at all," Frank said, pouting.

"That's the point. And the answer is yes, though it's not a formal proposal," Alice said with a wink.

Frank turned to her suddenly, shocked at her last comment. She suddenly threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "Night, Frank. I'll see you in the morning!" she exclaimed before climbing quickly up the ladder to her bed.

Frank gave her a smile and said, "I love you, too, Alice. Sweet dreams," before turning the light off and crawling into bed, a smile vibrant on his face.

----

Jenna squealed aloud and threw her arms around her husband happily. "He passed!" she exclaimed in a shrill voice. Tony laughed and hugged back, having been used to his wife's antics for a good, long time. Serious men needed sweet, spastic girls—it was something he had found true twice. Who else was going to make them to where they could work and relax all at once?

**A/N: Wow, just this first part took a long time… -sweat drop- I guess it can't be helped, but I had a bit of Writer's Block with putting it together (not the overall plot, though…) and stuff… Next chapter will be part two, and it'll be about Frank's mom. XDDD Review, please!**

**Oh, yeah. I start 9th grade on August 14th. I actually can't wait to go back to school, but it probably means less updates…**


	14. Beatrice and Alice

**Of Secrets and Stags**

Frank pulled the suitcases up into the house, under the strict watch of his mother. His mother, however, was constantly glaring in the direction of Alice. Frank's family was much different than Alice's family—Frank's father, who was considered a genius, left her and Frank when Frank was only three-years-old. Ever since then, his mother had been over-protective of her son, giving him very little trust and freedom.

Their families were polar opposites, in other words.

"Frank! Hurry up with those suitcases!" His mother called out. She then turned quickly towards Alice and said in a commanding tone, "I'll show you to your room now."

"Thanks, Ms. Longbottom," Alice said politely

She rolled her eyes before motioning for her to follow her. Just when they were out of Frank's hearing range, his mother turned to her and said, "I'm going to be watching you two. Don't think I won't notice any, and _all_, of your flaws and personality dysfunctions. By the end of these two weeks, I'll judge whether or not you're worthy of my Frank." Instead of waiting for a reply from Alice, she walked quickly up the stairs and threw open the guest room door.

The guest room was very dusty, and smelled like the window hadn't been opened in years. The bedspread was moth-eaten, and the chair and small desk that was in the corner of the room looked as if they would fall down if just another speck of dust would land upon it. The dresser's drawers were hard to open and jammed easily, and, even considering that, it only had three drawers and wasn't elaborate at all.

"Unpack and then change out of those clothes—wear something respectable. All three of us are going out grocery shopping, and I need to pick up some things as well," Ms. Longbottom said before storming out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Alice looked down at her clothes and said to herself, "What's wrong with these? Lily got them for me! Oh… she must mean change into robes…" she muttered to herself. She had been wearing a light yellow t-shirt with a monkey holding up a banana and a pair of tight jeans with diamonds up the sides, but that was definitely not something to wear to a wizard's shop. She pulled out a black robe with lavender lining, and put that on in the other outfit's stead.

She quickly put her hair up in high ponytail before hurrying out of the room. "Finally! What took you so long?" demanded Ms. Longbottom.

Keeping herself from a rude answer, and trying hard to make a good impression, she replied, "Sorry… Were you two really waiting long?"

"No, not rea—" Frank began, trying to excuse her from taking "a long time" getting ready.

"Yes! We've burned daylight because of you! C'mon, let's go—we _do_ need to buy food for dinner tonight," Ms. Longbottom said rudely before walking towards the fireplace. She looked at Alice and said, "You go first. Diagon Alley," she commanded, handing the container of Floo Powder to Alice.

"Right…" Alice said nervously, taking the container and throwing a pinch of Floo Powder in the fire before stepping in and yelling "Diagon Alley!"

Alice's mother then took the Floo Powder and threw in a pinch herself, following Alice. After that, Frank left the house as well.

----

Completely ignoring all of the other shops, Ms. Longbottom immediately headed for the small food store she had been buying from since before Frank was born. She walked down the street in between Frank and Alice, effectively keeping them from talking or touching at all. With eyes of a hawk, she stared intently at Alice, expecting, _daring_ her to try getting closer to _her_ Frank.

In short, shopping took a _very_, _very _long time.

---

Back at their home, Ms. Longbottom immediately commanded Alice to help her in the kitchen with dinner, leaving Frank alone to do whatever he wanted for a while. Ms. Longbottom believed in actually cooking the food in a way that was half-Muggle, half-magic, so Alice was having a hard time.

"Here. Do something easy. Cut the carrots up—you should be used to stuff like that from Potions," Ms. Longbottom said in an exasperated tone.

"Yes, ma'am," Alice said politely and she pulled out a knife and chopped the carrot submissively. Ms. Longbottom, too, went silent as she cut the meat into thin strips, and the kitchen was filled with only the ghastly noise of Alice and Ms. Longbottom's knives.

"… Can I ask you something?" Alice asked as she put the now chopped up carrot into the bowl beside the cutting board.

"That depends. Does that question count?" Ms. Longbottom asked sarcastically.

Alice gave a dry laugh before revising her past sentence by saying, "Sorry. Please allow me to ask a question." When Ms. Longbottom didn't reply, Alice went on to ask, "Are you over protective of Frank because of his father?"

From the corner of Alice's eye, she could see that Ms. Longbottom had stopped slicing the meat, and had a pained expression on her face. _'Maybe I hit the nail too hard and too perfectly on the head…'_ Alice thought with a wince.

When Ms. Longbottom didn't say anything back, Alice sighed and continued, "I know… I know I'd be overprotective of my son, if something happened to Frank. I mean, if we had one and we ended up marrying," Alice added embarrassedly.

"No, you don't understand…" Ms. Longbottom whispered, tears coming out slowly. "I… Despite what that bastard did to me, I… still love him, with all my heart and soul. Every time I look at Frank, I see Michael's face…" Ms. Longbottom clutched her hands to her chest, despite her still holding the knife.

"It's okay. When I think about Frank leaving me or… dying… I get the same way… There are no guarantees in this world, and… Considering the line of work Frank's going into, it makes me worry a lot. I think worrying about it might actually be worse than then dying… But even if he did die, or leave, I'd… I'd be grateful if he left me with a child…" Alice said slowly.

"I am… every day…" Ms. Longbottom managed to get out before the tears rolled down her cheeks, and she began sobbing uncontrollably.

----

"What happened to Mom?" Frank asked curiously. Ms. Longbottom had become a lot warmer towards Alice, and was more approving of their relationship.

"I guess we just connected…" Alice said with a shrug.

"Alice! C'mon, let's go clothes shopping! Frank, watch the house for us! We're going to have some alone time, 'kay?" his mother asked a bit too brightly.

"S-sure…" he replied, stuttering. _'Alice turned my mom… into an older Alice clone…'_ he couldn't help but think.

They left quickly, heading for Diagon Alley. "Somehow I feel left out…" Frank muttered before shrugging and turning on the TV.

Oh, well. Some alone time couldn't hurt. Besides—the whole point of the trip was for the parents to get to know their future son- and daughter-in-laws, right?

**A/N: Hard chapter to write… especially the part where Alice finally gets to where she and Ms. Longbottom connect… Oh, well, I guess. Next chapter is Christmas! I'll show both sets of Christmases, so yeah. XDD**


	15. A Magical Christmas

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"Wake up, you lazy guys! It's Christmas!" shouted an ecstatic Lily Evans as she ran into the Boy's Dormitory, still in her pajamas.

"Five more minutes…" Peter muttered before going right back to sleep.

"Hibernation…" Sirius cried out before hiding under the covers, still half-asleep.

Remus said nothing. He was a deep sleeper, and even Lily's shouts didn't wake him up—not even to a half-asleep state.

"No! It's Christmas! We've got presents!" James exclaimed, just happy that Lily herself had come.

Sirius and Peter both jumped up and glanced around the room before glaring at James. Sirius, however, realized what day it was and began shouting his "Hoorays.

"Huh? But aren't you normally the last one to get up?" Remus asked, having been woken by James' shouts, which were considerably louder than Lily's. However, to make up for his deep sleeping habits, he always seemed to wake up coherent.

"Yeah, well… I've got an alarm clock that wakes me up from at least fifty miles away," Lily said with a laugh, referring to Alice.

"Anyways, let's go open presents!" Sirius exclaimed, unable to hold it in any longer. He dashed down the stairs, Lily and James just behind him. Remus walked down the stairs, and Peter trudged down towards the tree.

"Wow! Look at my pile!" James exclaimed before looking around. "Aha! Here it is!"

"And here's mine!" Sirius shouted. They both held up their presents from one another and looked at each other. "Ready?" Sirius prompted.

"One… two… thr—Now!" James yelled, ripping the paper off carelessly and tossing it aside.

"Wow! I love it!" Sirius cried out, holding up a gigantic pack of a ton of different assorted candies—some of which had never been heard before and were very hard to find.

"Amazing! Look at this kit!" James said, holding up a special broom-care package that came from Romania. Neither one of the two best friends, who were both loaded with money, were cheap with the other. Both presents had cost a lot—things that the other two couldn't afford.

Lily laughed at their ritual, having not noticed it before now. "Yeah, they do that every year," Remus said with a chuckle and a shrug.

"They must be really close to have weird rituals like that…" Lily mused.

"They have one for Halloween, birthdays, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, summer break, and even St. Patrick's Day," Remus said, making sure to count them all off.

Lily stared at him, her mouth wide open and her eyes as big as saucers (not literally, but you get the idea).

"Anyways, let's start on ours!" Remus yelled out happily.

----

Lily's presents included: a set of silver bracelets from Alice; a book on Defense Against Dark Arts from Remus; a large set of Sugar Quills, Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans from Sirius; a set of changing color ink from Peter; and beautiful pairs of silver earrings from her parents (almost as if they and Alice had compromised on it, actually).

James' presents included: hair gel from his dad (as a prank gift); a book on Quidditch strategy for Seekers from Remus; a pranking kit from Peter; a large notebook full of original spells (with a note inside saying that they would kill him if he used it wrongly) from both Alice and Lily; and a very, very nice dress robe from both of his parents with a card attached saying: "You'll be wearing this on your wedding day. She to it that it doesn't take forever." Both of his parents had been hinting for a while that, right after Hogwarts, he should get married. It got on his nerves just _slightly_.

And Sirius, Remus, and Peter's presents were all mainly the same: a book and tons of candy.

Lily looked down on her presents and frowned. "What is it?" Remus asked after swallowing a bite of chocolate.

"I…" she began and looked down. She looked around, noticing that James and Sirius were talking animatedly, before continuing, "Ididn'tgetanythingfromJames! Whatdoeshehatemeorsomething?" she said really fast, almost incomprehensible.

Remus laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said nonchalantly, having known James' plan for the past few days now.

As if perfectly on cue, or at least with amazing timing, James stood up and asked, "Lily! Care to take a walk with me?"

Lily tried not to look shocked or blush (at which she added silently to herself that she didn't like James Potter) as she nodded shyly and followed him out of the room.

"If James comes back and he and Lily aren't an item… James is a very pathetic person," Sirius said, to which Remus and Peter nodded, both wanting desperately to know the outcome.

----

"I noticed you got silver bracelets from Alice and silver earrings from your parents," James began, trying to slowly segue into giving her her gift.

"Yeah…" Lily said with a laugh.

"Well… I think they made a bad choice," James said with a shrug.

Shocked, she turned to him. "How so?" she asked, trying not to lose her temper.

"I mean… It's obvious! Gold suits you much better…" James said, seemingly thinking to himself.

"Just… what are you saying?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrow.

"I'm not saying anything anymore. I'm giving you your present," James said in matter-of-fact tone, before taking out a box and handing it to her.

She looked carefully at the dark green velvet box before taking it and sliding off the golden ribbon that was tied around it. She opened the box to reveal an emerald stone, attached to a golden chain. She pulled it cautiously out of the box, admiring its beauty. "Why… why are you giving this to me?" Lily asked, completely awestruck.

"Remember when I used to proclaim my love for you, right after pranking you before?" James asked with a laugh. Lily nodded dumbly, still completely shocked. "Well… now I'm proclaiming it, but this necklace is no joke. Lily, will… you go out with me?" James asked, getting down on one knee (yes, in the snow) and holding her hand.

Lily began laughing her head off before saying, "Yes. Yes, I will. But it feels strange to say that when we're both in our pajamas," Lily said, casually pointing out that they were outside, in the snow, wearing nothing but their nightclothes.

James saw the humor in that as well, and began laughing his head off. "Well, let's go back up to the Common Room and have some hot chocolate, then!" he exclaimed happily.

"Good idea," Lily said, nodding as James wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

----

Frank and Alice awoke with a start as Ms. Longbottom, sorry, _Beatrice_, threw open the curtains to their room. Since they had started getting along, Beatrice had decided that the guest room was no room for her precious, soon-to-be daughter-in-law. In fact, Frank was kind of scared that she had taken to Alice so quickly, and wanted to know what exactly made such a change in her.

They all dashed down to the Christmas tree in the main room, where gifts were piled for all of them, except Ms. Longbottom, who had only two—one from Alice and one from Frank, which was sort of depressing.

"Save my gift for last," Frank said with a wink. She looked at him, a curious look on her face, but nodded.

"Same for mine," Alice added with a laugh. Frank nodded, and they all set to opening their gifts.

Alice had gotten Beatrice an expensive set of cosmetics, especially made just for her. Frank had gotten his mother a beautiful necklace that had a locket attached, with a two pictures already inside of him and Alice.

Beatrice had given Alice something that wasn't necessarily expensive, but it meant a lot to her. It was the first thing that her ex-husband had given her—a black charm bracelet with cats, owls and cute frogs hanging off of it. Alice also got a large book of special Transfiguration spells from Lily, and a ton of candy from the Marauders.

"Hey, what did you get the Marauders?" Frank asked curiously.

"Oh, a book for James and Remus, and candy for Sirius and Peter," Alice replied.

Frank nodded and turned to her. "Ready for me to open my gift?" he asked.

Alice nodded and bit her bottom lip. Frank tore the wrapping off to reveal a regular shoebox. He opened the box and gasped. Inside were pictures of him and diary entries from before they were going out to just recently. There was also everything he had ever gotten her—jewelry and stuffed animals.

"What's… this?" he asked, completely amazed.

"It's… a box full of my feelings for you. When I was little, I decided I would wait until I was older and attach myself completely to my first boyfriend, and that my first boyfriend would be the first guy to say that he liked or loved me. But… I turned down countless confessions like that because I had already liked a guy. Look back at the first entry," she pointed out.

He flipped through the entries that had been taken from her personal journal. "October 2nd, 1974… Whoa! Our… 5th year! You've liked me back since then?" he exclaimed, shocked.

"Yeah… and since then, I was waiting for you to notice me…" she admitted with a small laugh. "I was amazed when you finally asked me out, actually. I thought it would never happen, but I kept hoping and trying," she said with a small smile.

"I think you should open my present now," Frank said with a small smile.

Alice nodded and opened the large box. It, too, was a shoebox. She opened the shoebox to reveal that, inside, was a smaller box. She grabbed the box and opened it, only to reveal a silver ring with roses engraved into it.

"Alice… I… Well, will you marry me?" Frank asked, getting down on one knee and holding her hand awkwardly, not sure how to put it. "Of course, after we graduate," Frank said, flashing her a smile.

Alice gave him a bright smile before throwing her arms around his neck and yelling, "Yes!" before kissing him on the cheek.

Frank smiled brightly as he hugged her back. Alice leaned back a bit and held out her hand for Frank to slip the ring on her finger. After he did so, he lightly pecked her on the lips and hugged her tightly once again.

----

"You know, seeing those two together makes me want to go on a date," Remus said suggestively to Sirius.

"Remmy, my dearest, would you please consider accompanying me on a snowy panic for two, as opposed to eating in the Great Hall for lunch?" Sirius said, a brilliant idea suddenly striking him.

"I'd love too, Sirius," Remus said with a happy smile.

"We ought to do the same, Lily flower," James said with a smile.

"Sounds great," Lily said brightly.

Peter stared at the tree and moped. "I feel bad for him though…" Remus said.

Sirius thought for a moment. "Peter! Eat with the Hufflepuffs! I'm sure you can talk to the girls there and manage to snag one!" Sirius suggested with a smirk.

Peter thought about it and nodded. "You're right. I could really use a girlfriend, huh?"

All in all, it was a magical (excuse the pun) Christmas for everyone.

**A/N: Teehee, a romantic Christmas. I'll be finishing off this story with one more chapter and an epilogue of graduation from Hogwarts! Be ready! ;D**


	16. Reunited, Strong and Happy

**Of Secrets and Stags**

"Alice!" Lily cried out as she hug/tackled her friend the moment she walked into the door.

"Lilz! It's so awesome to see you again!" Alice cried out, throwing her arms around her friend happily.

"Ow! What in the…?" Lily asked as she backed up and looked at her friend's hand, having been scratched by the engagement ring on her neck. She gasped as she looked at it and just gave her friend a wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Um, well…" Alice began, trying to find an explanation.

"No need to explain! I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!" Lily exclaimed, hugging her friend tightly once again. "Actually, I have a confession as well… Well, while you were out for Christmas break, me and James… kind of…" she began, trying to explain.

"You and James? Don't tell me you're going out!" Alice asked happily, a bright smile on her face.

"How'd you know?" Lily asked, dumb folded.

"I guess I can just tell. I'm happy for you, Lily," Alice said with a smile as she hugged her friend once again, this time a lot more sweetly and less in excitement.

----

Dinner that night was a normal dinner, yet the entire room radiated radiance from the groups of friends who had missed their friends over the break. The room was filled once again with loud talking and chattering.

Before the food was put out, Dumbledore stood up and began a small speech. This was unusual, as Dumbledore only gave speeches at the beginning and the end of the year. "Students, welcome back to Hogwarts. I hope you all have been studying over the break so that you wouldn't be rusty when you came back," he began, the familiar twinkle in his eyes, even though he knew that the mass majority of his students wouldn't have studied. "Well, I have a big announcement for those graduating—due to a request by the Head Boy and Girl, there shall be a graduation dance this year, so everyone be prepared. But, on a more solemn note towards those graduating—I hope you will all help in the war effort. Voldemort," he paused, waiting for everyone to finish gasping, "is getting stronger and stronger every day. Some of you haven't been touched yet, and may never be touched by this atrocity, or so I hope. But every day, someone has a family member or a friend, many like the ones you all are so happily talking to now, murdered by him and his followers. Keep this in mind the rest of the year, during your summer, and during the rest of your lives—all of you. Study, train the rest of the year and become the best you can be to protect those you don't know, yourselves, and, especially the ones important to you. Enjoy your dinner," Dumbledore finished, food appearing before everyone as if magically.

But there were no gasps of amazement or surprise as the food appeared before them. The room that was once radiating with warmness was now filled with uncertainty and worry. Few people were talking, and even fewer when unaffected by his words. Some of them were even crying, most likely the ones that had had friends or family murdered by Voldemort.

The Marauders, Frank, Alice and Lily were all silent, until Lily said in a strained voice, "He's right," simply.

"Of course he is…" Alice said, patting Lily on the back comfortingly.

"We… we all really should study harder…" Remus admitted.

"You already study hard enough, don't start that depressing stuff… We need to train harder is what it is…" Sirius said, comforting Remus and speaking his mind in one shot.

"We all… need to do both," James said seriously.

"How about we meet in the Room of Requirement tomorrow…?" Sirius asked, still intent on the 'training', not so much on the 'studying'.

"And in the Library the night after," Remus added, the complete opposite of Sirius' comment.

"Agreed," Lily and Alice said together in synch, while Frank and James just nodded in agreement.

"But… we won't get anywhere unless we eat," Remus pointed out and started serving his plate, despite his thoughts still heavy on his mind.

They all chuckled nervously and began piling up their plates as well, glad that the awkward talk was over with.

----

"Let's… take a… break…" Lily gasped, exhausted from the training. That night, they all paired up with others—Alice with Lily, Frank with James and Sirius, and Remus with Peter (only because Remus was the best teacher and Peter needed the most help).

"Agreed…" Peter said, his arm dropping limply to his side as he sat down. He conjured a cup of cocoa and sipped at it slowly as the others joined him.

"Hey, what do you guys want to do after the war is over?" Alice asked conversationally. Recently she had noticed that she didn't really notice much about the Marauders, and since they were friends, she had resolved to figure out.

"I want to keep being an Auror. Chances are, there are going to be a lot of Death Eaters, even after we kill Voldemort," James said bravely.

"Seconded," Sirius said.

"Thirded," Frank agreed.

"I want to teach… here. I like teaching—and, I'm sure, with Dumbledore around, he'll let me. Besides, Hogwarts has a great Library," he added with a smirk.

"As you know, Alice, I want to become a—" Lily began, before getting cut off by James.

"She wants to become a medi-witch for the war effort, instead of doing the more straight-forward Auror thing like most of us are," James said with a wink.

"Peter? What about you?" Alice asked.

"I… dunno… you?" Peter said, his gaze traveling down before looking up to ask his simple question.

"Me? I want to be a medi-witch, too, but after I do the 'Auror thing'. Me and Lily disagree about the best thing to do for the war effort," Alice said with a laugh.

"Well, let's keep going. We can't take breaks now!" James exclaimed, already having gained back more energy that he had had previously.

"Right!" Lily and Sirius said simultaneously.

Sirius stared at Lily before saying, "Aha! Lily and I are on the same wavelengths! Lily Evans, you were made for me!" Sirius said, grasping both her small hands in his large ones.

"Sirius…" James began threatening.

"Yes, James?" Sirius asked innocently, still holding Lily's hands.

At that moment, James conjured a newspaper and a spray bottle full of water. He rolled up the newspaper and began spraying Sirius furiously. "Bad boy! Bad! No! No no no!" James repeated over and over, repeatedly spraying his friend with the water bottle and hitting him with the newspaper.

"Ahhh noo! My hair is all ruined!" Sirius whined, attempting to run away from him.

"Not gonna work!" James yelled, shadowing his friend's agile moves and chasing after him, just close enough to be able to smack him on the head with the newspaper and the water bottle.

----

Lily and Alice lay in their beds next to each, having pushed them together to be able to talk easier. "Hey, Lilz…?" Alice asked, half-asleep, along with her friend.

"Yeah, Alice…?" Lily asked with a small yawn.

"What… do you think will happen…?" Alice asked uncertainly.

"About what?"

"Us. Our boyfriends. Our futures. What's going to happen?"

"I don't know. We could die, or we could live a fairy tale-like life after we kill Voldemort. It all depends," Lily admitted.

"How can you say that so easily?" Alice asked.

"How? How can I put it… I've got everything I need to die happy. I've got a best friend, who's seen all sides of me. I've got close friends I can be myself around. I've got a boyfriend I'm crazy about and I know absolutely loves me. My friends are happy. We all have dreams of the future. I can die happy, but I would definitely rather live in my fairy-tale world for as long as possible…" Lily whispered the ending, nearly asleep.

"Thanks. That's all I needed to know. I'm sure now…" Alice whispered before turning on her side towards her best friend and allowing herself to fall asleep.

**A/N: Four more days until school! Yay! And the next chapter is the epilogue. –sigh- Heh, just means I'll have to make another one ASAP, eh? Review, please!**


	17. The Happiest Beginning Ever

**Of Secrets and Stags**

They had all deserved it. Lily and James had worked their butts off in both training and preparations, and had gotten exceptionally strong together. Remus had made it to where Peter could hold his own, even against James, if his cowardice didn't stop him from doing so. Sirius had actually studied, enough said there. Alice and Frank had gotten immensely good at dueling together, with and against each other. They had all—in some form or another—deserved the graduation dance. So, they all swore to make their last day and night at Hogwarts perfect.

Lily and Alice spent half the day preparing for the dance. Lily had a deep green silk dress that fit her slim figure perfectly. It trailed down to the ground, and was completely nicely with a black sash and black high heels. Her hair was up in a loose bun, with stray strands framing her face. Magic hid any possible flaw in her face and added a smoky green look to her eyes. And, of course, she wore the emerald necklace James had given her.

Alice wore a velvet knee-length red dress that hung tightly to her figure, showing off her curves. She had a golden shawl and heels as well, and was wearing the charm bracelet and her engagement ring, though neither one matched her outfit at all. Her hair was down, a rare thing, and cascading down her back, straight and silky. Spells had been placed on it so that it would stay that way, and wouldn't acquire any knots. Even Lily barely knew how long Alice's hair was—she had only seen it down on a few special occasions, after all.

"Ready to go?" Alice asked Lily with a smile.

"Definitely. I can't wait to see how the boys look," Lily said with a smirk.

The pair walked down the stairs together, Lily in front of Alice. Their boyfriends (the others hadn't bothered to wait) smiled up at their girlfriends/fiancés and complimented them sweetly.

"Lily, you're looking just slightly more magnificent then usual," James offered, grabbing her hand as soon as she was in reach and twirling her into his arms dramatically.

"I guess you look okay," Lily commented with a smirk, though James looked pretty good himself. He was wearing a deep green shirt, kept untucked, to match Lily's, having known that she'd wear green. The rest of his outfit was a regular black suit, and his hair was kept in its normal messy manner.

"Alice…wow…" Frank said dumbly, not being eloquent in such situations.

"You look amazing, too, Frank," Alice said as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek sweetly. He looked good himself, though he didn't have the scruffy yet hot look James did. His hair was slicked back, and his red shirt was tucked in and neat. His black suit was unwrinkled and seemed like it had been kept in perfect condition.

"Shall we?" James asked, offering his arm to Lily.

"Love to," Lily replied, taking his arm and walking out of the doorway and towards the Great Hall.

----

They danced the entire night, not much happening aside from that. The girls, even the ones with boyfriends, were either glaring at Remus for being with Sirius or saying much too loudly and excitedly how cute they looked together (being gay girl fan girls). Everyone was shocked when they saw Lily and James still going out. Most of the boys were practically counting on Lily dumping James to ask her out, but ended up with someone else.

It was nearly time for them all to go home, when Dumbledore stood and announced, "This dance was brought to you by the Head Girl and Boy, Lily Evans and James Potter. The Head Boy has requested that they have a special song together, after which Mr. Potter would like to make an announcement. This will be the last song of the evening. Thank you," Dumbledore said before sitting back down. As soon as he sat, a song began to play.

"May I have this dance?" James asked, holding out his hand and giving her a slight bow.

"Like all the others? Of course," Lily replied, taking his hand.

He twirled her so that she was close to him, once again, and whispered in her ear, "No. Not like all the others. Listen to the lyrics…"

She gave two firm nods before closing her eyes and allowing James to simply sway with her as she listened to the lyrics of the song.

_Maybe it's intuition   
but some things you just don't question  
Like in your eyes, I see my future in an instant  
And there it goes,  
I think I found my best friend  
I know that it might sound  
more than a little crazy  
but I believe..._

_I knew I loved you before I met you  
I think I dreamed you into life  
I knew I loved you before I met you  
I have been waiting all my life_

_There's just no rhyme or reason  
Only the sense of completion  
And in your eyes, I see  
the missing pieces I'm searching for  
I think I've found my way home  
I know that it might sound  
more than a little crazy  
but I believe..._

_I knew I loved you before I met you  
I think I dreamed you into life  
I knew I loved you before I met you  
I have been waiting all my life_

_A thousand angels dance around you  
I am complete now that I've found you_

_I knew I loved you before I met you  
I think I dreamed you into life  
I knew I loved you before I met you  
I have been waiting all my life_

_I knew I loved you before I met you  
I think I dreamed you into life  
I knew I loved you before I met you  
I have been waiting all my life_

As the song ended, James pulled Lily towards the stage, were the microphone was waiting for him. Lily was amazed that he had planned all this, and gotten it, while training, studying, and preparing for the dance. He paused at the microphone and glanced around at the crowd. He looked at Lily and gave her a small smile before beginning his announcement.

"I, James Potter, would literally like to shout it for the world to hear that I love Lily Evans. However! All I have is a microphone and a stage in front of everyone in my year, so that'll have to do. I… love… Lily… Evans. I know you're all disappointed—Lily Evans is taken. But, there's just one thing I need to know from Ms. Evans herself…" James turned to her and got down on one knee, a lot more dramatically than he did in the snow just six months ago. "Lily Evans, though we've only been going out for six months now, I can't think of a better time to ask this. Will you marry me, the arrogant, selfish prick who wants you all to himself?" He held out a box and opened it, a simply golden ring with a heart embedded into the front of it out to her.

"I… James! Yes!" she cried out, holding back tears as she threw her arms around his neck happily and kissing him on the cheek, holding him tightly.

As James placed the ring on Lily's finger, the crowd burst out into applause (except for the Slytherins, they don't count) and cheers. Alice was screaming at the top of her lungs how proud of Lily she was and Sirius was yelling about how he'd miss him.

"And, with that, my dear students, we'll conclude the school year," Dumbledore said, his eyes not just twinkling but sparkling and overflowing with joy.

**A/N: And that concludes Of Secrets and Stags. O.O Oh, the song is "I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You" by Savage Garden. Fitting, eh? XD Well, review:D**


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